Star Wars VIII: The Trials of the Jedi
by Sheeshow
Summary: It has been nearly a year since the Resistance destroyed the Starkiller Base. Heroes Finn and Poe Dameron have begun searching for Rey, who went to find Luke Skywalker. But evil is brewing. Kylo Ren and his Knights have returned, seeking to destroy the remnants of the Jedi Order. Friends, old and new, must align with unlikely characters to restore peace and order to the galaxy...
1. Prologue

(Opening Prologue)

 **STAR WARS**

 **Episode VIII: The Trials of the Jedi**

 **It has been nearly a year since the RESISTANCE successfully destroyed the FIRST ORDER'S Starkiller Base. But the war is far from over. There are rumors that Kylo Ren has made appearances in different parts of the galaxy, completing his training under the mysterious Supreme Leader Snoke. Stormtroopers raid any planet or star that has any involvement with the RESISTANCE or the weakened NEW REPUBLIC.**

 **As General Leia Organa still mourns the loss of her husband, Han Solo, at the hand of their son, she must also prepare her army for the ever-present threat of attack from the FIRST ORDER. RESISTANCE heroes Poe Dameron and Finn lead a small squadron to the desert planet Tatooine, hoping to find a lead that will may help them find the last Jedi Knight, Luke Skywalker, and the girl who went to look for him: Rey, the scavenger from Jakku…**


	2. Chapter One: The Vision

A/N (Author's Note): Hey guys! Gee, this is my first fanfic ever published...kind of nervous, I guess. I hope you all like it. Don't worry. If I don't get feedback (I'm not expecting to), I'll still update until the story's completed. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter One: The Vision

Finn hated desert planets. To him, a giant ball of dust had no place in the galaxy. Heck, he'd prefer having to face a feral acklay than live on a stupid sand castle with two suns! And it wasn't as if Finn had little reason to hate planets like Tatooine: the last time he was on a desert planet, he'd nearly been killed countless times in different ways—and first impressions tend to stick. Poe wasn't much of a fan, either; there was little greenery, the skies were a dull blue, there were rarely any clouds, and the suns burned his skin. But both decided that they would have to put their dislike for planets that brought back memories of Jakku out of the way if they were going to find a Jedi and the scavenger who went to find him.

"I don't like this," Finn said as the ship approached Mos Eisley. Poe shrugged. "Neither do I, but if we're gonna find Rey, we have to start somewhere," replied the pilot.

The mention of Rey made the former stormtrooper's heart ache: the way she smiled, the sound of her voice, the insistence that she could do things on her own. He missed her. He remembered waking up a little less than a year ago. He had asked where Rey was, if Rey was okay, if Rey was alive; all thought of his own well-being and recovery was next to none. Then Poe had told him that Rey was gone, taking Chewbacca and the Millennium Falcon with her. It was said that she had gone to find Luke Skywalker, the last of the Jedi Knights. Finn's first instinct had been to go out and look for her—to help her, to make sure she was all right—but Poe had more to say: Finn was now a hero to the Resistance, and that he was needed. It had taken a lot of convincing to keep the former stormtrooper put, but Poe eventually succeeded.

General Organa had given him many small and what he dubbed "useless" missions: investigate First Order activity in the Outer Rim, recruit more pilots, teach members of the Resistance the ways that stormtroopers think and react, etc. Finally, Finn had enough. He demanded a meeting with the general. "I need to find Rey" was all he had said. To his surprise, Organa agreed. "It's been too long since we last heard from her. We need to learn if she's found Luke or not," she had said. She had ordered him to construct a small squadron of about five members to help him in his search. He immediately confronted Poe first, who immediately agreed. "Anything for the guy who busted me out of a Star Destroyer," he had said with a grin. Finding four other people to join them wasn't the problem: half of the Resistance would've volunteered if they had known. The problem was finding four reliable people who they could trust.

"Finn, Dameron, I suggest you should pull your hoods up more. You two are the ones that are in danger of being recognized," suggested Jed Keplin. Keplin was a mechanic who, in his own words, had "been about everywhere and seen about everything there." He could fix, shoot, and fly about anything he laid his eyes on, which surprised no one, being a Corellian human. He had black hair, dark eyes, tanned skin, and was about average height; he could, and would, blend in with any group of scum in the galaxy. Finn and Poe took his advice and pulled their hoods to conceal their faces. They knew Jed was right; most of the galaxy would have already heard about their accomplishments and seen sketches of their faces by now.

Finn unconsciously felt for his blaster at his side when they arrived at Mos Eisley. Bellona Nightstar, the only woman in the group, volunteered to stay with the ship. "This un's a nice un," she said, "and Ah know that outta errybody Ah'm the most capable at keepin' it." None of them tried to argue with her; Bellona was a legend in the Resistance, surviving more battles and skirmishes with the First Order than even Poe Dameron himself. As the group stepped out onto the sand, Finn silently prayed to whatever the Force was that they would fit in.

The great thing about being a group of delicious humans with blasters and eyes that basically scream "I've probably killed eight Trandoshans _just like you_ " was that no one will give you a second glance. Finn soon learned this when they entered the cantina. There had to be the greatest variety of scum in the galaxy collected in one bar. In was in that moment that Finn realized that knowing about one or two hundred of the different alien species that lived in the galaxy was like knowing that a beetle was an insect; in other words, he felt very uneducated. Gale and Torq, twin brothers who grew up in the slums of Coruscant, decided that they were going to wander about the cantina to find some scum who could know something. That left Finn, Poe, and Jed by themselves.

Jed ordered a drink, took a swig, and turned to look at the other two. "You two stay here. Keep to yourselves. I don't want to see either of you talking to anybody, got it?" he snapped. Poe gave him a sly grin. "Sure thing, _Mom_ ," he joked. Jed's eyes smiled, but the rest of him stayed expressionless. "You better be sure," he warned, only half-jokingly.

When Jed was gone, Poe turned to Finn. "Even if we don't find a lead here, there's still plenty of other systems to check out. Somebody's gotta know something," he reassured his troubled friend. Finn shrugged and ordered a drink for himself. "It's not looking too good, Poe. If Luke's managed to stay hidden all these years and only Rey knew where to find him, what chance do we have?" he murmured hopelessly. Poe clapped him on the shoulder. "Cheer up, FN, we'll find her," he said brightly. But the pilot himself knew that there wasn't much chance in them finding the girl. These people were _Jedi._ If they wanted to stay hidden, who could find them?

* * *

" _Nooooooo!"_

 _Flashing lights. Watching a ship leave. Robotic breathing._

 _"These are the first steps."_

 _A stormtrooper holding a blaster at her head. "Don't move, Jedi scum."_

 _A yellow blade crosses with a ruby red one._

 _She held the lightsaber towards Luke Skywalker, waiting for him to take it. He just stared at her blankly, as if not able to believe what was happening._

 _"You have to convince him to leave, Rey. He's the only chance we've got to bring us back together."_

Rey opened her eyes in darkness, panting, gripping the blanket that covered her. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, remembering what her Master had taught her. Inhale. Exhale. Think about what had just happened. Inhale. Exhale. When she finally calmed herself down, she felt her fingers lightly trace the hilt of her lightsaber—the lightsaber that had been Anakin Skywalker's, then Luke Skywalker's, and now hers. Her forehead creased as she concentrated on the dream she just had in the darkness of her room.

It was not unusual for her to dream about the vision she had when she first touched the lightsaber; she had dreamt of it nearly every night since she had arrived on this planet. But the stormtrooper, the yellow and red lightsabers, the voice at the end—that was all new. She had never seen that before. She stood, stretched, walked over to a small table, and turned on the lantern that had been set there. She didn't have much in her room: a mat to sleep on, a table, a small trunk, and a mirror hanging on the wall of the cave. In a separate cavern lived her Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. Every morning after she dreamed, they would discuss what she saw and what it may have meant.

However, she knew that this couldn't wait for the morning.

She made sure that she was covered, grabbed the lantern, and rushed into Luke's cave. "Master!" she cried, rearing to a stop at the entrance. She could see the outline of the Jedi's sleeping form stirring. "Master," she said again, not as loudly, but still firmly. She saw one Master Luke's eyes pop open. He stared at her blankly for a moment before speaking. "What is it, Rey?" he murmured, his voice drenched with sleep. "I've had a vision," she explained.

That caught his attention; he was now wide awake. He sat up and quickly motioned for the girl to come over. She sat down, crossed her legs, and began to describe what she had seen. Master Luke listened attentively, never interrupting her. When she was finished, she saw that his eyebrows were meeting in the middle in thought. "And you're sure you've never seen the yellow lightsaber before?" he questioned after a minute of thought. She nodded. "Never. Why?" she asked him with enthusiasm. He shook his head rubbing his beard. "It reminds of someone I knew many years ago…he had a yellow lightsaber. He was a student of mine before…before Ren destroyed it. He fought with Ren so that some of the others could escape," he said. Rey listened assiduously; Master Luke rarely spoke of the failed academy or his former students. "He was the reason that many escaped. I don't know whether he made it out or not. He was the one who sent a warning for the other students and myself who were off-planet to stay away. When I arrived on the planet after everything to account for the dead, I never found his body. He may have escaped or been captured by Ren. I don't know."

"So how many do you think escaped? If we can find them and bring them here to complete their training, we'll have another Jedi Order. We'll have a whole army of Jedi Knights to fight against Ren and the First Order! Master, we—"

"No, Rey."

The girl gaped at him. "What do you mean?! Master, we need more Jedi. It can't just be you and me against Ren and the stormtroopers. We need help! We must bring balance back to the Force!" she protested. Luke shook his head. "I can't do that. I don't know who survived or how many survived, not to mention who would actually come out of hiding. As far as I'm concerned, you and I are the only Jedi left in this galaxy. The Jedi are not the servants of war," he explained. Rey could hardly believe what she was saying. "I didn't come here to complete my training and become a Jedi. I came here to bring you back so that you could help the Resistance—help your sister—restore freedom to the galaxy! Leia needs you. The Resistance needs you. Finn needs you. I don't even know if they're still alive because I'm here with you, playing Jedi instead of fighting for my friends!"

"Rey, Kylo Ren is only going to get stronger. You won't be able to beat him so easily next time you two meet."

"It wasn't easy to beat him! He killed Han, and he nearly killed Finn. I don't know if he's all right or not—"

"That's a lie and you know it. Search your feelings, Rey: you know that your friends are fine."

"They're not fine. They're lives are in danger every moment the First Order still lives. Who knows when their next breath will be their last?!" the Padawan protested. Luke Skywalker sighed. "Rey, now isn't the time to fret about such things. You need to concentrate on your training," he said. She shook her head fiercely. "One thing that you can't help me on is how I felt when I had this vision. I had never been more terrified in my life, not even when Ren held his lightsaber to my head, not when he interrogated me, not when he killed Han, not when I fought him after he nearly killed Finn—never before have I been more terrified in my life. I've got to go back," she said firmly. "No," her Master ordered, "you must stay here and complete your training."

"But—"

"Rey," he said, exasperation evident in his voice, "I've been through what you're going through. Vader once had my friends in his clutches, tortured them, even froze Han—and I made a terrible mistake. I didn't complete my training, was overwhelmed by Vader. Had I stayed with Yoda, had I completed my training…perhaps things would've turned back differently. Don't make the same mistake. At least stay and think about it."

His apprentice bit her lower lip. "I'll consider it, Master" was all she said.


	3. Chapter Two: The Return

A/N: I'm trying my best to use existing planets, aliens, and swear words in the Star Wars universe, mainly because I don't want inconsistencies. If you don't know what words like "kriffing" and "bantha dung" mean, you can probably just look them up.

* * *

Chapter Two: The Return

They ended up with exactly what they expected: nothing. There was no credible lead; no one that was worth a pound of bantha dung had seen a girl, a wookie, and the _Millennium Falcon_. But none of them felt much differently when they left the planet than when they had first arrived. Bellona and Torq were piloting the ship, Gale was taking a nap, and Poe was playing some flying simulator, leaving Finn and Jed to discuss their thoughts.

"We're never going to find her," Finn admitted. Jed shook his head. "We've only explored one planet out of the billions of systems in the galaxy. We'll find her," he reassured her, though he hardly believed it himself. Whether he did it consciously or not, he was seriously reconsidering this whole caper in itself. It was a fool's errand, trying to find a Jedi and a girl who did not want to be found. There were so many things he could be doing for the Resistance instead of trying find two people long gone from anyone's knowledge. He could be on some raid or spying on the First Order—literally anything other than this would be more beneficial for the Resistance's cause. Jed did not understand the significance of bringing the Jedi back to the Resistance would mean to the galaxy: he never heard any of the stories of the Jedi when he had grown up on the streets of Corellia and had lived his whole life without their help or presence.

"I just…she went to go find him, right? So why hasn't she come back yet? It's been almost a year since anyone's last seen her, and it doesn't help that we've only just started looking for her. What if Ren's captured her? What if he's torturing her? What if—"

"'What if, what if,' that's all you ever say nowadays, Finn! Whatever happened to my Green Leader from the aerial strike on Kashyyyk?"

Finn smiled at his friend's words. "I'm still here, Jed, just…worried, I guess," he murmured. Jed frowned. "'Worried' is an understatement, if you ask me. You're flat-out hysterical," he corrected. The former stormtrooper chuckled at the Corellian. "I appreciate your concern, Green 2, but I think I'm entitled to be worried about my friend. Not only did she play a crucial role in the destruction of the Starkiller Base, but she's also very strong in the Force. I think that every decent bounty hunter in the galaxy's after her. Why shouldn't I be worried?" he pointed out. Jed gave him half of a smile and patted his friend's arm. "Because we're going to find her," he promised, knowing that if the protocol droid CP3O were there, he would tell him the odds that were astronomically against them.

* * *

Petro Varden found himself glancing at one of the Twi'lek dancers. She had a very dark pink pigment so that her skin looked almost red and four long, graceful lekku. Her lips were black and her eyes were a stunning purple. Her skintight suit was very revealing, with leather shorts that barely covered her midsection and a top that acted more like a bra than a standard garment. Her black heeled boots stopped mid thigh. In other words, she was your typical, beautiful sex slave exported from Ryloth. Petro did not consider himself a womanizing man, and he despised slavery with every fiber of his being, but he knew better than trying to free such prized slaves. Still, he unconsciously traced the scars on his hands from years of labor on Tatooine. Norvvik, the only Mirialan Petro had ever met with deep yellow skin and no facial tattoos, nudged the human's shoulder. "Here comes the client," he whispered in his rough, heavily-accented voice. Petro found his eyes leaving the beautiful Twi'lek slave towards the entrance of the tavern.

A hood figure in black strutted across the room. His facial features were covered by a black mask. Petro felt his breath catch in his throat. Kylo Ren. The man halted behind the two bounty hunters. "Norvvik the Cruel and Petro Varden, I presume?" he asked in his robotic voice. "Kylo Ren, Jedi Killer, you are correct," answered the Mirialan slickly, without even a hint of a tremble of fear. The two bounty hunters turned to face the dark warrior. Their eyes glanced at his black robes, his mask, but were glued to the hilt of his cross hilt lightsaber, a legend in its own right. The Jedi Killer noticed this. He gripped it, and a bright red blade appeared. Petro stared, transfixed; it reminded him of the legends of Coruscant, where the human heroes fought monsters with ancient broadswords before blasters were created. "A magnificent weapon," the metallic voice continued, sweeping the lightsaber in the air. All activity in the tavern stopped; the Twi'lek dancer was staring with fearful purple eyes.

The human felt like killing the warrior of darkness; was this guy full of bantha dung or what? Who in their right mind would activate a _lightsaber_ in a _tavern_?! This fool was just screaming "Look at me! I'm a Jedi Killer!" at the galaxy. "When you have unlimited power such as I, bounty hunter, you can do whatever you want whenever you want. However, there is something that I desperately want that I'm not able to obtain myself," Kylo Ren growled. Petro tried his best to keep from making a squealing noise; he kept reminding himself that he was Petro Varden, raised in the slums of post-Galactic Empire Coruscant, surviving off of his wits until he became a famed mercenary throughout the galaxy. He had no need to fear this…magician who relied on stupid religious tricks and no real skill. "So, the job description said this would be a simple kidnapping. Who's so important that the Jedi Killer's willing to go to bounty hunters for help?" Petro asked casually, fiddling with his blaster. Ren deactivated his lightsaber and turned back to the bounty hunter. "A girl. She goes by the name 'Rey.' She is very powerful in the ways of the Force. Our sources tell us that she has recently appeared on the planet Abregado-Rae to get supplies and that she visits there regularly. My men will give you a description of the girl shortly."

"We've already heard of this Rey, you know. She's been wanted since the Death Star III blew up," added Norvvik. "No," Kylo Ren corrected, "Starkiller Base, not Death Star." The Mirialan snorted. "It did the same thing as the Death Star and the Death Star II, so why didn't you fellas just call it Death Star III?" he challenged. The dark warrior seemed impatient. "It's very, very different," he protested. "Sure, sure," the bounty hunter replied, not really buying it. Petro, tired of the petty conversation, stood, winked at the pretty Twi'lek slave (who smiled in response, as he was _quite_ charming for a human), and turned back to his partner. "Let's get a move on and find this Rey," he said quickly, motioning for the Mirialan to follow him. The yellow humanoid shook his head and pointed at the glass in his hand. "I'm gonna finish my drink, Petey," he said. _Kriffing nerf herder,_ cursed Petro inwardly.

* * *

TK-1138 motioned for the squadron behind him to move forward. He frowned from behind his stormtrooper helmet; this didn't look good. Trying to capture the Resistance base on D'Qar—perhaps one of the biggest bases in the galaxy—was a seemingly impossible task. Especially since capturing the base was one of the last things TK-1138 wanted to do before he died.

"Tick," muttered a robotic voice. TK-1138 chanced to look behind him. His fellow stormtrooper, BC-0101, seemed to be staring at the trees in front of them. "What's up, Beast?" TK-1138 asked him impatiently, trying to keep his attention on the task ahead. BC-0101, known as "Beast" to the squad, rubbed the back of his white helmet, a nervous habit of his. "I just got a call from one of the officers on the ship…"

"And?" TK-1138 asked, irritated at the distraction. "Ren's gonna join us on this one," BC-0101 finished, then braced himself for Tick's reaction. TK-1138 bit the inside of his cheek; Kylo Ren, here? "When is he scheduled to arrive?" he asked, hoping that the fear that he felt didn't show in his voice. "The day after tomorrow at soonest, two to three days at maximum," BC-0101 answered—and he didn't bother to attempt to keep his own voice level. The rest of the squad looked to Tick, who acted as their commander even though he didn't legitimately have the rank. TK-1138 was glad that the other stormtroopers couldn't see his reaction through the mask; he was furious. "What makes them think that we need some sorcerer to babysit us on trivial escapades such as these?! We're not children!" he barked at no one in particular. BC-0101 hoped that no one would report this outburst; Tick was having those more frequently since they had been assigned to D'Qar.

TK-1138 rubbed the top of his grimy white helmet. His mission to begin with was difficult enough, but now with _Kylo Ren_ peering over his shoulder the whole time… _I need to get help. Now. It's been more than ten years and now I need help. I can't risk Ren reading my mind._ "Let's fall back and head back towards the ship. We can log our data then." When no one moved, he angrily waved at them with extravagant gesticulations. "Do I really have to tell you twice?! Move along, move along!" he cried out. The other stormtroopers quickly turned around and began marching back towards the ship, though BC-0101 paused and turned back around to face Tick. Beast watched with silent fascination as Tick (who was still facing the Resistance base) took off his helmet, exposing his dark hair, and starting whispering into the air. Beast frowned; was Tick—the great cynic _Tick_ —praying?

* * *

Luke Skywalker found his normally peaceful meditations disturbed. Often he spoke with his former masters Yoda or Obi-wan Kenobi, and sometimes his father Anakin. But today…today it was some sort of vision.

 _He stood before the Emperor's throne in the Death Star II, though the throne itself was facing away from his, as if its occupant were staring out into the infinite space beyond. "You have failed, young Skywalker," the voice of Palpatine taunted him, though the sound seemed to come from all around him. "I have not failed!" he protested, looking around him. The throne room seemed to stretch until the other wall was out of his sight, stretching at different angles as he turned his head. He heard sounds of a lightsaber crashing on another lightsaber; he saw flashes of red and green. He immediately palmed the hilt of his own weapon, gripping it tightly._

 _The wraith-like voice of the Emperor chuckled. "Yes…yes! Fulfill your destiny, and take your grandfather's place at my side!" he crooned. Luke returned his gaze back to the throne. In front of the throne, a figure wielding a green blade loomed over one cloaked in black. The Jedi Knight felt his mouth dry; he remembered this moment so well. But instead of deactivating the lightsaber and refusing Palpatine's offer, the figure with the green lightsaber gave a war cry and brought his weapon downward. The fallen figure gave one last ragged, robotic breath._

 _The victorious figure turned to face Luke. It was Ben Solo, his nephew—his sister's and Han's son. Emperor Palpatine gave another cackle of laughter. "Good, Kylo Ren, good! Now, kill your former master, and take your place beside me and your grandfather."_

 _Kylo Ren pointed his red lightsaber of his own design at Luke. "You're next, Uncle," he spat._

The last Jedi Knight's eyes opened. His hands were shaking. Thoughts raced across his mind, each one more insane than the last. He knew in that moment that Rey was right: they had to return to the Resistance; the dark side was growing stronger.

"Luke, you are the last of the Jedi. What Kylo Ren and Snoke want most is your return. Now is not the time."

Luke turned to face the spirit of his former master. "Obi-wan, the evil that I failed to contain is returning to the galaxy. It is my duty to—"

"Yes, it is your duty to correct the wrong you have made, but the time is not ripe for you to return to Leia and the Resistance," the blue haze of Obi-wan told him. Luke shook his head and rubbed his beard. "If I don't return and face the monster I made, what can stop him?" he challenged. The wraith of Obi-wan Kenobi crossed his arms against his chest, giving his former apprentice a look that seemed to say, _Seriously? You're really asking that?_

The Jedi Knight quickly shook his head. "No, I won't have Rey going out there before her training's complete. It's too dangerous," he protested. The ghost paced back and forth, his blue eyes never leaving Luke's. The last of the living Jedi Knights continued to plead his case. "She's too young, too inexperienced. For the past year Ren has been being nurtured in the dark side while Rey's barely scratched the surface of her abilities. She—"

"You should have more faith in your apprentice, Luke. I certainly had to place so much in you."

Luke felt the heat flush his face. "That was different," he answered curtly. Obi-wan solemnly shook his head. "You were the new hope after Anakin failed the galaxy, and now Rey is the next hope. It is perhaps just as much as her duty to stop Kylo Ren as it is yours," the spirit answered calmly. Luke thought about this for several seconds. Rey, the next hope for the galaxy? It didn't seem too far-fetched to him—after all, he himself replaced his father, so why couldn't Rey now replace him? "I'll tell her," he said.

* * *

Rey was practicing with her lightsaber when Master Luke approached her. She immediately deactivated her weapon and turned to face him. "What is it, Master?" she asked him, knowing that something was wrong by the look of devastation on his face.

Instead of answering her, he stared at the lightsaber hilt in his apprentice's hand. "Your skills have improved drastically," he commented for no reason in particular. Rey frowned. "What's wrong, Master?" she asked him. Master Luke wouldn't meet her eyes when he said it: "You have to go back to the Resistance. Kylo Ren has returned." Rey felt many different emotions, but fear and excitement were the two that surpassed the others. Her grip on the lightsaber hilt tightened. "Chewbacca's supposed to return in a few days from Abregado-Rae. I'll go then," she told. He nodded and took out his own saber. He activated the emerald-green blade. "Want to spar?" he asked, changing the subject. He wanted to test her skills himself. She activated the blue blade that had once belonged to him, and his father before him. "Of course," she answered.

The got into their familiar fighting stances, their blades poised at each other, pacing in a rough circle. Then they rushed in to meet each other, and the fight began.

* * *

A/N: TK-1138's name is a variation of the command the Rebels used against the Death Star in the original _Star Wars_ film (TK-421) and George Lucas's directional debut _THX-1138_. BC-0101 is simply because I thought of binary coding for no apparent reason while I was writing this chapter. The inspiration for Petro Varden's name was the Varden from the _Inheritance Cycle_ and because I was a fan of the _Clone Wars_ TV series (there was some kid named Petro in the series).


	4. Chapter Three: The Ship

A/N: Here's Chapter Three. HUGE shoutout to DecryptWriter for being the first reviewer. Wow, I was not expecting feedback so soon! And don't worry, I'm definitely planning on completing this story.

* * *

Chapter Three: The Ship

If there was one thing Petro Varden couldn't stand besides a being that insisted on speaking in only Huttese, it was a Corellian ship that had more stories attached to it than what it was worth. The Corellian ship usually happened to be the _Millennium Falcon_ , though one time it was a cargo freighter called the _Black Andromeda_.

Today, however, it was indeed the _Millennium Falcon_ , which was sitting in a landing dock just outside the city of Nagiffag on the planet Abregado-Rae.

Apparently, the witch warrior Kylo Ren's sources had been correct, and the _Falcon_ was, undeniably, on Abregado-Rae. Petro Varden took a moment to let the sight of the ancient ship sink in. The tip of his tongue stuck out of the left side of his smirk, a habit he had developed when he was unusually happy. Thirty billion NR credits for the girl that piloted this ship! And the First Order had personally asked _Petro Varden_ —out of all the great bounty hunters in the galaxy—to find her! Of course, there were the downsides: Petro had to give the majority of the bounty to that idiot Norvvik just because he was the one who attracted the attention of the First Order in the first place. Seventy-five percent! Petro wanted to shoot the stupid laserbrain for the injustice of the whole thing.

Norvvik was looking at the ship through some fancy binoculars. Petro angrily grabbed the Mirialan's arm and yanked the binoculars loose. "Druk, Petey! What the fark were you thinking?!" the humanoid hissed in protest. "I was thinking about saving our hides, you son of a blaster! What the fark were _you_ thinking, looking at the kriffing _Falcon_ with kriffing _binoculars_ , blasterbrain?!" retorted the human, shooting his partner a rather nasty glare.

Norvvik muttered a few Huttese curses under his breath as he stooped to pick up his binoculars. Had it not been for some of the human's skills that the Mirialan lacked, Norvvik would've already killed the sleemo and taken all of the bounty before they even caught the girl. But then, Varden _was_ smarter than him, and so he had to deal with him for a little while longer. After they got the girl though…there would be blood.

Petro noticed that the only occupant that ever went into and out of the ship was a wookie, who he immediately assumed was the famous Chewbacca. He frowned, the smirk gone; was the girl hiding, or was she even there at all? A couple of credits had bought him some odd information: every twelve days or so, the _Falcon_ flew off-planet for about a day or so, then returned, starting the cycle all over again. The informant also said (after a few more credits persuaded him) that the end of the twelve or so days was tomorrow. Varden's mind raced. He had to get on that ship _today_ —but how?

He turned to the Mirialan. "I need to find a protocol droid that can understand wookies and works for little pay. Also, it needs to not be some stupid bucket of bolts that twists everything everyone says for its own benefit. Well? Why are you still standing here?! Get a move on and find one!" he shouted, pointing towards the market. Norvvik dusted off his jacket and fixed his collar. As he strutted off to find a protocol droid, only his hatred for Varden and the idea of both his death and thirty billion NRs kept him from screaming.

* * *

Chewbacca carried about three large boxes with small metallic parts in them from the market. An ordinary human would have difficulty carrying one on its own, let alone _three_ , but that was one of the many reason Chewbacca preferred being a wookie to being a human. Besides the fact that they were weaklings, they always had to put on some uncomfortable wear-skin to keep themselves warm. Chewbacca thought that was a pile of bantha dung: why didn't they just grow their head-fur out? But no—they always wanted to stay groomed, to keep their head-fur nice and short. Chewbacca thought it silly of them to complain about their uncomfortable wear-skins when they refused to grow their head-fur out.

The wookie realized he was losing himself in thought again, as he often did while H—no, he had to keep working. He had to take the _Falcon_ to the strange rock-with-no-name the next day. Rey, girl-who-spoke-Shyriiwook, was waiting for these metal pieces to build little droids. As he walked up to the _Millennium Falcon_ , something jumped in front of him. Chewbacca peered over the top of the highest box. It was one of those silly humans with short, curly head-fur that they refused to grow out. The wookie began to growl.

The human held up his hands to show that he held neither a blaster-gun nor any other kinds of harm-things. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa!" the human squeaked in Basic-tongue. The wookie huffed, impatient, but he had learned over the years to listen to whatever was brave enough to jump in front of a mighty wookie without a blaster-gun or a harm-thing. The human pointed at the _Falcon._ "Is that your ship?" he asked. "Wruurgh," Chewbacca said, though he knew that the human would be unable to answer him. He was right. "I'm sorry, I don't speak wook—I can't understand you. Did you say that it was your ship?" the human asked him, confusion written all over his no-fur face. Chewbacca nodded.

"Well, is the ship called the _Black Andromeda_? _Andromeda_ was a friend of mine's, and he's desperate to get her back," the human said. The wookie shook his head and tried to tell him that it was called the _Millennium Falcon_ —only to get the same unsatisfactory results.

"So it's not the _Black Andromeda_? No? You're sure? Gee, it sure looks like the _Black Andromeda_ …where'd you say you got her from again? Wait, I can't understand you, sorry. My bad. Gee, I need to learn wookie. Is that what you call it, wookie? No? Well—wait, don't try telling me, I won't be able to understand…what you just said sounded like _bluuuurrraggh ennnarrrr_. Wait, did I actually just say that right? No? I was excited for a second, you know. Wait, are you in a hurry? You need to get somewhere? Well, I feel like a slimeball right now, keeping a wookie from wherever a wookie needs to go to do his…uh…wookie business. Say, you're a merchant, right? You sell merchandise? Well, do you sell droid parts? Yes or no? Yes?! Well, I'll get my buddy with a protocol droid and we'll come visit you later today, see what you've got, 'kay? Yes? Gee, thanks, Mr. Wookie!" the human finished, ignoring the wild gesticulations Chewbacca was making with his head.

The wookie tried to call after the no-fur human, tried to tell him that he wasn't a merchant and that the human and his friend weren't welcome aboard the _Falcon_ , but to no avail. He growled the worst Shyriiwook curse he knew. But there was nothing he could do about it now. Muttering some more insult under his breath, he carried the three boxes of droid parts onto the _Falcon_.

* * *

Norvvik was having a terrible time finding a protocol droid. Either they were missing an eye, didn't know Basic, kept babbling in Huttese to try to feign ignorance (though the Mirialan spoke Huttese as a second language and understood perfectly well what the scheming droid were doing), or demanded service at ridiculously high prices. It took Norvvik every fiber of his being not to burn the whole market down.

To be honest, it brought back bitter memories of the first several years after Norvvik had lived on Alderaan— before it had been destroyed by the first Death Star, of course. He knew that he had not been born there, but he never did learn the name of his homeworld. When he was still a young child, he had taken a trip to Coruscant with his much older brother, Kavik. While they were watching a performance by the famous Sy Snoodles, the show was interrupted by news of Alderaan's destruction. For the next several years, Norvvik and his brother lived off of the streets by their wits, stealing—and sometimes even killing—for mob bosses to make end's meet. Then, just when things started going well, Kavik went missing. His body was found about a week later. After that, Norvvik had left Coruscant and given up on society as a whole. He still did work, but a greater scale; soon, he was Norvvik the Cruel, famed bounty hunter and mercenary throughout the galaxy.

Then, not too long ago, Norvvik had returned to Coruscant on a lead on the mobster who was responsible for Kavik's death. That was when he'd met the street urchin called Petro Varden. Immediately, being the professional he was, he recognized the boy's potential. After he got his revenge for his brother's death, he left the planet, taking Varden with him.

Now, he was just tired of Petro's shenanigans.

He just wanted the human gone.

The Mirialan approached another stand. "Do you have a—"

A battered, tarnished, silver protocol droid turned around to face him. "Oh my! Forgive me, sir, I didn't see you there," it said in a feminine voice. Norvvik got to the point quickly. "You speak wookie?" he asked curtly. The protocol droid raised an arm. "Shyriiwook? Of course. How much are you paying?" it got right to the point. "Seventy-five credits," he said.

"Eighty," responded the protocol droid.

 _Fark_ , the Mirialan thought as he leaned forward. "Fine," he answered through gritted teeth. At least he was finally done with this laserbrained search.

* * *

BC-0101 stopped in front of the opening of the shuttle. Another stormtrooper bumped into him from behind, cursed, and shoved him forward. Beast stepped out of line and walked back towards their quarters. He pressed the button to open the door, stepped through the doorway, and heard it close behind him.

TK-1138 didn't have his helmet on, and Beast could see the nape of his friend's neck. "Tick," he hissed, "are you trying to get yourself flagged? Get your helmet on and get on out there!" The stormtrooper turned around, a blank expression in his green-blue eyes. "What if I'm doing the wrong thing?" he murmured, more to himself than to BC-0101. Beast frowned from behind his helmet. "Whaddya mean, Tick?" he asked, confused. What was up with Tick?

Tick rubbed his nose with a gloved hand. "Have you ever wondered if the world was just upside down, that what we think is right is completely wrong, and what we think is wrong is right? Sometimes I think…I doubt…whatever I do hurts someone, you know? Either I'm a stormtrooper and I'm killing rebels, or I'm a rebel killing stormtroopers. But who's to decide what we do or what we think? We're just pawns of some greater Force…but which side: the dark or the light?!" he moaned, throwing out his arms as though everything were out of his control. Beast took off his helmet and ran a white armored glove through his yellow hair. "Tick…what you're saying is called 'treason' in the First Order. If anyone found out about your…this… _defective conditioning_ , they'd tell Hux or Captain Phasma," he said wearily. What did Tick mean, the Force? What was the Force? And what did he mean by the dark and the light sides? TK-1138 shrugged. "It won't matter after D'Qar. I'm sorry…crooked moral compass, I guess," he excused quickly, putting his helmet on. He silently chided himself; this was no time to feel remorse for what he was about to do. He was foolish for thinking about trying to corrupt his friend's mind. He grabbed his blaster, attached it to his belt, and marched after Beast.

Beast and Tick quickly got into line after the other stormtroopers. Captain Phasma, to whom their division belonged, didn't seem to notice their tardiness. "Squads 2, 4, 6, and 1, come with me. Squads 3, 7, 8, and 11, go with Captain Spectro. Squads 5, 9, and 10, stay here and keep data of our reports," Captain Phasma rapped. Tick felt his heart sink to his boots; Phasma, perhaps the person he feared most besides Ren and Snoke himself, was leading his squad. She would immediately notice if he made a mistake, which he probably would; after all, he had been a stormtrooper for less than a year—but he was the only person in the whole galaxy who knew that. There was little that mind manipulation and database hacking couldn't do.

Tick brought up the rear of Phasma's division's single-filed line, wearily scanning the surrounding area with his peripheral vision, as though he thought that the Knights of Ren were about to pop out from behind every rock and tree on the planet. _Stop it,_ he told himself, _you're panicking. You shouldn't be panicking. You've done things that none of these people have even dreamed of. Quit panicking._ It was true; Tick had done many things in his life that most rational beings would deem impossible…things that the First Order would kill for without hesitation. If only— _Quit already!_

Phasma's division made a semicircle about a mile or so away from the base; Spectro's division would take the other side, and the stormtroopers would surround the rebels. Hopefully, there would be no need for Kylo Ren's arrival; with any luck, he would never have to arrive on-planet.

But TK-1138 had lost most of his good luck a little more than ten years before.

As the stormtroopers neared the base, Tick could immediately tell that something was off. He could sense that the others were feeling odd, too; Phasma kept barking unintelligible words over her comm to Spectro, who barked inarticulate words in return—but neither showed any other sign of apprehension or confusion, masked by their professional apparel and authority.

They stormed the base, blasters poised, shouting commands at each other. Only there was nobody there to attack. The base seemed abandoned…but recently. Tick felt like taking his helmet off and vomiting his guts out. There was no doubt now: Kylo Ren was coming, and there was nothing TK-1138 could do about it.

* * *

"Grrrrruuurraaarrrrgh," rumbled Chewbacca. The protocol droid faced the two bounty hunters. "The mighty Chewbacca says that he is not a merchant and that he is not selling anything of interest to the likes of those such as yourself," it said. Petro Varden slickly ran a leather-gloved hand through his dark curly hair. "That's weird—I seriously thought he was implying that he was a merchant, my bad," he said uncertainly, a semi-vacant yet seemingly confused look in his grey eyes. He dug into his pants pocket. "Here, lemme pay you for your trouble," he said quickly, and produced fifteen credits.

"Wrrrruuurrrrarrrr," growled the wookie. "The mighty Chewbacca says that he will not need your consolation and that he just wishes for you to be gone so that he can complete his work," the protocol droid said. Petro shrugged. "Too bad for you," he stated indifferently, stuffing the credits back into his pocket.

When they were out of earshot, Norvvik the Cruel leaned in and whispered "I planted the tracker on the leg. I can't believe your stupid plan actually worked." The human grinned and slapped the Mirialan on the shoulder. "T'be honest, I can't, either," he laughed. Now, all they had to do was wait for the _Falcon_ to leave, then follow her wherever she went.

* * *

"Hey, we're getting somethin' from base!" hollered Torq from the copilot's chair. Bellona leaned in and adjusted a knob, murmuring something about needing to get a holoprojector (was that even a thing?) replaced. At his twin's shout, Gale jumped awake and fell onto the floor. Finn, Poe, and Jed all ran into the cockpit, a whining Gale trotting behind them.

Finally, Bellona managed to get the hologram projection clear without any interference. A blue, hazy image of General Leia Organa appeared. "Green Team and Black Leader, there's been an attack on a Resistance base on the planet D'Qar in the Ileenium, a base that's crucial to our cause. Those operating the base managed to escape about an hour or two earlier, but they have no way off the planet and are being hunted relentlessly by the First Order. There are several stormtrooper squads on the planet. Our intelligence has learned that Kylo Ren has been called for backup. There's very classified information the rebels have that _cannot_ fall into the First Order's hands. If Ren obtain this information, it will compromise the location of all of our major bases across the galaxy. I need you to arrive on D'Qar as soon as possible. Good luck, and may the Force be with you." Bellona turned off the projection. "End of transmission," she said.

Gale rubbed the back of his skull. "D'Qar…wasn't that the main base during the Starkiller Airstrike?" he mumbled. Torq turned and glared into his twin's brilliant blue eyes, eyes that were identical to his own. "You were _there_ , sleemo!" he spat, incredulous. Gale frowned as he picked a single strand of blood-red hair off of his jacket. "Huh…ya, I _was_ ," he said at last, surprised, gazing off into nothingness. Torq shook his head and flashed the others an embarrassed grin. "Sorry, he's kind of slow," he excused slowly, the words rolling off his tongue. His brother snorted, his face molding into a scowl. " _I'm_ slow—ya, right! _You're_ the one who took _three weeks_ just _reading_ up on how to fly a Y-Wing! Who _reads_ about flying a Y-Wing, seriously?!" he scoffed.

Bellona had enough of the siblings' squabbling. "Both of you shut up before I feed you to a sarlaac!" she hissed. The twins both decided to shut up; Bellona Nightstar was not one to make idle threats. She had grappled until she had climbed to the top tier of the Resistance's totem pole for far too long to have to take any druk from anyone—only to reach Green 3. She wasn't even a leader yet! However, none of the other members of Green Team or Poe knew this about her; they just assumed she was always PO'd for no reason.

Jed Keplin turned to Finn. "Sorry, boss, but it looks like we'll have to postpone looking for Rey," he said; though he hated the whole idea of trying to find a Jedi and a scavenger on a missing planet, he genuinely felt sorry for the former stormtrooper. The young man was obviously lovesick for the girl. Bellona quickly put in D'Qar's coordinates. Then they were traveling at lightspeed.

* * *

A/N: Still trying to use existing planets and dialogue, though Nagiffag is not a real city on Abregado-Rae (it's Gaffigan, as in Jim Gaffigan, spelled backwards). The next chapter will be longer.


	5. Chapter Four: The Lightsaber

A/N: Sheesh! It's the end of the day and I'm _just now_ updating. Sorry, I've had a lot of stuff to do. Anyway, here's the longest chapter yet! Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Four: The Lightsaber

When Chewie landed the _Millennium Falcon_ on the planet-with-no-name, the last thing he had expected to happened was Rey, the girl-who-spoke-Shyriiwook, telling him that they were finally going to return to the Resistance, the new-Rebel-Alliance, and Leia Organa, the mate-of-Han-friend. While it was an unprecedented surprise, it was still welcome, and the great wookie warrior bellowed in delight when he heard the news.

Rey couldn't help but notice that Chewbacca was much more ecstatic (though not nearly as ecstatic as herself) than her master, Luke. He frowned, his forehead creased with worry. "I don't like this," he grumbled as she headed towards the spot where the wookie landed the _Falcon_. "I'll be fine," she reassured him, slightly annoyed with his overprotective concern. The last Jedi Knight shook his head. "The dream I had last night about the base on D'Qar and an attack on it tomorrow…Kylo Ren is returning, I know it. I'm not sure if you'll be strong enough to face him. He'll be much more powerful this time," he warned. The scavenger bristled; had he no confidence in her ability? "I'm quite capable of defending myself. I've been the only person to do so for half of my life," she retorted bitterly.

Luke halted. "It's not that I doubt your own ability in the Force, it's just that the dark side…it's nearly unlimited power. I faced a Sith Lord once and barely escape with my life—and that was only due to my father's sacrifice. I…I lost so many students, Rey, some that I had basically raised myself. One of them, Galen—he'd been my first student. I received him only months after Endor. He was only four then. He had no father, and his mother died shortly after delivering him to me. I raised him, was the father that he never had, loved him like my own son. He had a very strong connection to the Force. Where the other students struggled, he excelled with ease. He helped the other students when they grew frustrated and was very diligent in his studies. He wanted to become just like me, a teacher. I truly thought that I would no longer be the only fully-fledged Jedi Knight in the galaxy anymore. But then…Ben turned to the dark side. He and Snoke's Knights of Ren slaughtered most of the students. The few that escaped only did because Galen fought him. You see, Galen and Ben treated each other like brothers—no, in their eyes they _were_ brothers. It broke him to see Ben killing the others…if he wasn't killed, I believe he soon went mad.

"You may wonder what this has to do with you—after all, you and Galen are two completely different kinds of students. But, Rey, what you have to understand is that I thought that Galen would become even more powerful than me, and yet he was overwhelmed by Ben and the Knights. I don't want to lose anymore of my students." Rey looked into her master's sad blue eyes and felt touched. _So he really does care. Of course, I was foolish to doubt it in the first place_ , she mused. "So do you know of any of the students who escaped?" she asked him, knowing how great of an advantage it would be to have other trained Force-users in the fight against Kylo Ren. He shook his head. "Even if I knew a few names, it wouldn't be of any use. I don't know where they're hiding or if they're even willing to aid you," he lied; though it was true he didn't know a single identity of any student who was definitely alive, he knew that every single one of them would come at his call to join the fight. But he wasn't ready to risk the lives of the remainder of his students. He wasn't even ready to join the fight himself, which was why Rey was going in his stead.

They continued walking again. After a few moments of blissful silence, Rey asked "So what's going to happen of D'Qar?" Her master gave her a look of undisguised surprise.  
"How'd you—never mind, I told you," he choked. He felt like cutting off his other hand; why oh why oh _why_ did he let D'Qar slip? "Nothing. A minor fire exchange between the First Order a few rebels," he said. In a sense, it was true: the fighting wouldn't last very long, only about an hour. Unfortunately, Rey didn't believe him. Her eyes narrowed into slits as she stared into his expressionless face. "Finn…Finn will be there!" she shouted suddenly. Luke winced visibly. "It's not your place to go there," he said immediately, "and you're not prepared to face Ren. You need to go straight to Yavin 4 and meet with Leia. If—and only if—Kylo Ren makes his intentions clear _after_ D'Qar, then you may choose to engage him." He watched as Rey's face turned a beet red. "It's not in your power to decide the fate of the Resistance fighters. It's not the duty of a Jedi to interfere with the destiny of others," he told her.

"Then what about the story you told me, of how to left your training with Master Yoda to rescue Han and your sister? They could've died—would've died—if you hadn't gone!" the girl protested. "That…that was a mistake. I nearly fell into Vader's clutches, and I could've learned so much more from Yoda that I missed out on—but I don't regret it, and if I could change it I wouldn't," he sighed. He looked into Rey's eyes. "It was wrong of me to try to shield you from it. I'm sorry. It was selfish of me. Do what you will, but whatever happens, _do not give in to your anger_ ," he advised, referring to the scavenger's hatred for Ren over Han's death. His apprentice nodded as they descended down the rocky side of the island.

Chewbacca and the _Millennium Falcon_ were waiting for them when they finally reached the bottom. Chewie scooped both the Jedi in a huge, furry hug that only a wookie can supply. Rey couldn't help but smile as she was nearly suffocated by her furry friend's coat. "All right, Chewie, we missed you, too," she said at last, her voice muffled. The wookie released them, rumbling about recent events. Rey listened intently. "Really…the nerve of some people…then he tried to _pay_ you…and you didn't accept? Huh, free credits and you…yes, yes, I miss Finn, too…and guess what? We're going to go see him! Yes, we're finally leaving the island and returning to the Resistance! No…no, Luke's not coming with us—I know, I know, I know, I'm disappointed, too. But isn't it exciting?!" she squealed. Chewbacca was, if anything, even more thrilled than she was.

The girl turned and faced her master. His worried expression had yet to leave him. "Don't worry. I'll have BB-8 to protect me," she told him as she walked with Chewie onto the ship. Luke Skywalker watched as the _Falcon_ 's thrusters activated and the ship began to hover. "May the Force be with you, princess," he whispered as the freighter shot out of Anch-To's atmosphere.

* * *

Finn felt his stomach tighten as D'Qar came into view. The biggest Star Destroyer he'd ever laid eyes on was hovering over the planet like a menacing shadow. The information the rebels on the base had must be even more important than General Organa had implied…

"Green Leader, we're getting ready to land," Bellona Nightstar informed him as they neared closer to the planet's atmosphere. He swallowed and nodded slowly, trying to absorb everything he was seeing. Gale swore loudly. "How in the world are we supposed to land with that thing in the way?!" he exclaimed hopelessly. His twin rolled his eyes. "You _were there_ for the Starkiller Airstrike and yet you still seem to have the experience of a rookie," he commented spitefully.

"This isn't a Resistance aircraft so…just, uh, fly casually," Poe Dameron ordered with confidence—though in reality, he was terrified. Bellona nodded and nudged Torq, her copilot. "Quit fighting with your brother and help me try to not farking _lose my mind_ and get us blown up!" she snapped.

Luckily for them, the officers aboard the Star Destroyer and the surrounding ships seemed to be preoccupied at the moment, not even bothering to try to open a line of communication with the cargo freighter. Bellona and Torq managed not get blown up, which everyone counted as, without a doubt, a success.

When they landed, however, they knew that their luck was about to run out. Stormtroopers were everywhere, and it would only be matter of seconds before they were spotted and surround. The rebels quickly ran out of the aircraft and made a break for the trees. Approximately twenty seconds later, when they were halfway across the clearing Bellona and Torq had landed in, a stormtrooper spotted them. "There! You! Don't move!" he shouted, his voice laced with the static of the signature helmet. Of course, the members of the Resistance completely disregarded his orders and continued making a break towards the forest. Then the son of a blaster started firing at them! Gale was just ready to be done with the day all ready; he hadn't received any sleep the previous night due to the preparations for the battle and Bellona kept yelling at him for absolutely no reason. While running behind Jed, he grabbed his blaster, pressed the side against his abdomen to help keep it steady, and fired three bright red shots. The stormtrooper fell, hit each time: twice in the stomach and once in the head. "Take that, sleemo!" the red-haired soldier whooped as he ran into the protective embrace of the forest.

Poe Dameron took a minute to look behind him and count the heads: there was the black braided hair of Bellona Nightstar, the fiery red of Torq (or was it Gale—it was impossible to tell the two apart), the pained expression of Finn, another fiery head, and, bringing up the rear, Jed the mechanic. He breathed a quick sigh of relief; that was everybody. "Everybody still have their everythings attached?" he asked quickly, and began running again behind Jed. There a few gasps of "yes" and "ya" and "I'm still breathing so I'm good," but he felt a hint of fear when he saw Jed stumble. He grabbed a fistful of the mechanic's dirty off-white jacket. "Hey, man—you okay?" he asked, concerned. Jed barked a bitter laugh. "It's just a scratch," he assured the pilot, clutching at his thigh with his left hand. Poe didn't exactly believe him; he gently pulled Keplin's hand away to reveal a nasty-looking blaster wound. The Black Leader swore and gritted his teeth. It looked awful. "We need to get that bandaged immediately," he said quickly, reaching into his pack.

Jed shook his head. "No, we've wasted enough time already. The others are gonna start waiting on us, and we can't have that. No, I'll just suck it up and worry about it later," he concluded. As much as he hated it, Poe knew that the mechanic was right; if they waited any longer, they would lose their head start on the stormtroopers. "At least cover it," he commanded. Jed nodded, grinding his teeth, tore off his jacket, and hurriedly tied it around his leg. They had to sprint faster than they normally would dare with such an injury in order to catch up with the others.

Just as Finn looked back to see how far away Poe and Jed were, stormtroopers jumped out from behind trees. "Duck!" screamed Bellona as she dived for cover. The twins did the same, identical blurs of rough civilian clothes and blood-red hair leaping behind identical thorny bushes. Finn, however, couldn't turn himself around in time; he ran straight into familiar white armor. After the collision, both he and the stormtrooper fell to the ground. Finn was able to recover first, reaching for his blaster and shooting the other in the chest. The stormtrooper slumped down, both his armor and flesh torn—not quite dead, but with no hope for survival, either. Another stormtrooper rolled out, grabbing Finn and slamming him to the forest ground. Finn felt his face press against the dirt as the adversary dealt him many blows upon his head. He did the only thing he could think of: he rolled. It worked. The stormtrooper was thrown off-balance, and Finn managed to kick him off. He scrambled to his feet, only to realize that his blaster was not in his hand. He had dropped it in the tussle. The stormtrooper, however, did have a blaster, and was firing away. Finn ran, arms over his head in a poor attempt to protect himself. Just as he dove behind an enormous tree trunk, the fire stopped. He allowed himself to peak from behind his cover. Gale, trigger-happy as he was, had decided to make it his business to end the pesky stormtrooper's life with a single shot of his favorite blaster. He winked at his squad leader and tossed him an object: Finn's blaster. "Next time, try to _shoot_ the son of a blaster, boss," he advised mockingly. Finn grinned and shook his head; that Gale was _something_.

They barely had time to gather their wits back when more shots collided with trees. Gale swore loudly, kneeled, and returned fire, managing to take out five stormtroopers. "It's a good thing these guys haven't learned to shoot in the fifty plus years they've been active," he commented dryly, not even bothering to duck a shot meant for his bright red head. The former stormtrooper didn't bother replying as he frantically looked around. He saw Bellona shooting at some figure in white armor and Torq grappling with one of the soldiers, but Poe and Jed were nowhere to be seen. "Druk," he spat as he shot at one stormtrooper, missing by mere inches. Where were they?

Torq managed to knock the helmet off of the stormtrooper he was fighting with; it revealed the frightened young face of a man with bright yellow hair. The rebel didn't really notice the soldier's face and didn't really care, either; he landed blow after blow white the barrel of his blaster. The stormtrooper spat blood, catching the copilot in the eye. Now it was personal. Torq grabbed the ears of the stormtrooper and began slamming his head against the root of a tree repeatedly. The yellow-haired man's brilliant blue eyes were filled with pain and panic as he clawed at Torq's jacket, trying to dislodge his grip. He managed to hit the rebel in the nose. The copilot fell backwards, cupping his face with his hands. The stormtrooper took this time to clear his head, blinking rapidly. Druk, but his head hurt…oh, everything hurt so much! He madly reached around for his blaster, but to no avail. Torq stood and aimed his own weapon at the stormtrooper's head. "Please," BC-0101 whispered, "make it quick." The rebel's brow furrowed; he had never known a stormtrooper to speak out of character. "Fine," he responded coldly. He pulled the trigger but didn't wait to see it hit its mark; he turned, ducked, rolled, started shooting at other white soldiers, and soon forgot about the yellow-haired stormtrooper who begged for a quick death.

Bellona knew that the situation was grim. There were far too many stormtroopers; they were outnumbered ten to one, not to mention that Jed and Poe were missing. It wouldn't be long before they were overwhelmed. Spying one of the devils sneaking behind an unsuspecting Gale, she turned her attention away from her original target and fired over the twin's head. The would-be attacker was killed instantly, falling to his knees. Nightstar quickly spun around—only to be met by the butt of a blaster.

Finn watched at the pilot fell and, when she didn't attempt to get up, immediately knew that she was unconscious. "Fark!" he hollered as he quickly ended the miserable existence of her assailant with his blaster. He rushed over to her side and inspected her wound. There was a small cut that was bleeding slightly, but it wasn't very deep and didn't look too bad. He grabbed under her armpits and started pulling her away, ducking his head as he did so. He stuffed under the roots of a large tree and covered the opening with the leaves of a huge fern. His dark eyes quickly scanned the area to reassess the situation: the twins were still holding their own, but Torq's nose appeared to be broken, and Gale was holding his right arm to his chest like it had been shot. He knew that they were all going die within a few minutes at most.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a figure not in white dart from behind the trees. With a shout, Poe Dameron fired his blaster eight times, catching a stormtrooper in the leg, another in the back, and two others in the stomach. Jed Keplin was several meters behind him but no less valiant, killing three stormtroopers in only four shots. Finn couldn't help but give a laugh; with Poe and the mechanic—both skilled soldiers—they might actually stand a chance at survival.

Poe rushed towards Finn and slip, firing his blaster, only stopping when he heard the cry of a dying man. "Green Leader, how goes it?" he asked with a reckless grin on his face. Finn shook his head. "Not so good. The twins are injured and Nightstar's unconscious. Where were you two?" he added. The best pilot in the galaxy shrugged and fired his blaster just inches away from the former stormtrooper's face. "We got cut off from behind. Jed got shot in the leg, so it took us a while to cut through them," he replied between breaths, nodding at Jed, who was crouched behind a tree about eight meters away. Finn inhaled sharply after a chunk of rock smacked his face as a stormtrooper shot at the rock he was hiding behind. "We've gotta get out of here. It'll be a slaughter," he said frantically as he fired his blaster at a commander. Poe nodded in concurrence. "I know" was all he said.

Gale had just been waiting for his blaster too cool off when he felt a searing burning sensation in his left hand. "Farking druk!" he yelped in agony and dropped his weapon. He waved his hand in the air, hissing curses with every ragged breath. Now he couldn't shoot; his right arm was immobile and his left hand was about the equivalent of medium-rare meat. He was definitely farkled this time. He ducked for cover and curled up into a ball, trying his hardest to become as small as possible. His brother happened to be looking over out of habit and saw Gale's situation. "Gale!" he hollered, and instantly rushed over to his twin's side. He never made it there. A stormtrooper, DR-1963, spotted the red-haired rebel and took aim. Torq never knew what hit him; he was dead before he hit the ground, a whole seared into his chest. Gale screamed in horror and scrambled to his brother's body. He cradled his head and rocked back and forth. No, no, no, no, no, not Torq, not Torq, not him, don't die, he's dead, my brother's dead, my brother's _dead—he's dead he's dead he's dead_ …oh no, no, no, no, no!" he screeched.

Jed saw Gale with his brother's body and felt his mouth dry, but there was nothing that could be done for Torq now; he was dead. Gale, however, still had a chance at life. "Gale, get over here!" he ordered at the top of his lungs. The living twin looked over at the mechanic with clouded eyes. "Gale! Now!" he yelled. Gale's chest heaved; he knelt down, kissed his brother's forehead, and sprinted towards Jed. When he made it there safely, Keplin grabbed the young man's arm and dragged him to the ground, crouching over him. "Don't move, kid," he warned as he continued returning fire back at the stormtroopers.

Suddenly, as if by some unspoken (it actually was spoken, but the rebels couldn't hear, of course) command, the stormtroopers began to fall back. Then they were in a full-blown retreat. Poe and the remainder of the Green Team continued to shoot after them until the last white-armored figure was out of sight. Finn and Poe exchanged looks; "What in the blazes are they doing?" the pilot breathed, bewildered. Finn scowled. "Whatever it is, we better get out of here before they remember us—here, help me with Nightstar," he replied. They both knelt down and started pulling the unconscious form of Bellona out from under the roots. Finn heard the sound of sobs. He turned and saw Gale, on his knees, howling at the sky; it was midday on D'Qar.

* * *

TK-1138 watched as the unmistakable structure of the _Millennium Falcon_ streaked across the sky. He couldn't help but grin from behind his helmet. She was back. After all these years, she was back. For a moment, he wondered if she would recognize him.

 _No_ , he scolded himself, _she was only a child then—not to mention that Luke messed with her head to make her forget most of it_. Anyways, it was a nice thought.

* * *

Rey scanned the large clearing where most of the First Order ships were docked. "Chewie! Take over while I man the guns!" she ordered as she quickly rushed towards the back of the ship. Once seated, she grabbed the controls and felt as the chair whipped around. The sights locked onto a large platoon of stormtroopers. She started firing away. The stormtroopers attempted to scatter and run for cover, but it was too late; they were all dead within seconds.

She quickly scanned for more targets. A TIE fighter was attempting to chase her. She whirled the guns around and gripped the triggers. After a few misses, the blasts managed to catch the TIE fighter's side; the ship went down in flames, crashing into a docked shuttle. But she knew that, with the wookie piloting the _Falcon_ by himself, they wouldn't be able to dodge the enemy's fire for long. "Chewie," she shouted over the comm, "get us out of here! Find someplace to land!" She heard Chewbacca's guttural reply and felt the ships swerve downward. She smiled. While he wasn't too great of a pilot, the wookie sure knew the _Falcon_ better than even she did.

The wookie was having a blast. This was the most exciting thing that had happened to him since the Starkiller Base blew up. He scanned the surface, looking for a proper place to land. _Hnnrag_. There, on the other side of the vast forest. After dodging some fire and swerving in the skies to avoid other ships, he lowered the thrusters until the _Millennium Falcon_ was hovering above the surface. He tried to land her as gently as possible. It was still rough enough that Rey was airborne for about half a second, but it was still much better than Chewie had predicted. He grabbed his crossbow and garbled some Shyriiwook at the girl. She nodded as she activated her blue lightsaber-that-once-was-of-Luke. "Of _course_ I'm not going to be captured like last time," she reassured them before they leapt out of the _Falcon_ and onto the battleground of D'Qar.

* * *

As the shuttle exited lightspeed, Kylo Ren turned to face his Knights. "The girl is on D'Qar. I can sense her even from here. Remember, the Supreme Leader wants her alive—by any means necessary," his robotic voice rasped. One of the Knights, an older one, stepped forward. "And what would you have become of the stormtrooper and the wookie?" he asked. Even Kylo Ren cringed behind his new mask when he heard the Knight's voice; it reminded him of the sound of two rocks scraping against each other. "They don't get to help her," the Jedi Killer replied.

All of the Knights of Ren activated their ruby blades. It had been over ten years since they had last used them against a worthy opponent, and they were ready for a battle.

* * *

Jed Keplin was struggling, and it wasn't just because of his injured leg: he was half-carrying, half-dragging Gale, who seemed to be in a state of shock. As much as his heart poured out for the young man, part of Jed was extremely frustrated. It was a lot of work carrying his own weight around, let alone that of an even larger human that was had about as much use as a heavy sack of meat.

A heavy sack meat that kept babbling a bunch of gibberish at unsystematic intervals, that is.

Eventually, he had to stop running. "Green Leader, I can't hold him much longer," he panted, wiping perspiration out of his eyes with the shoulder of his once-was-white jacket. Finn, who was helping Poe carry the unconscious from of Bellona Nightstar, shot a sideways glance at his friend. Poe shrugged. "I can carry her myself. You help Jed," he said nonchalantly. Finn waited until Poe had readjusted his hold on Bellona before jogging back and draping Gale's injured right arm around his shoulder, supporting most of the soldier's weight. When he heard Jed's affirmation that he was okay, they all started off again.

Finn knew that, with all of these First Order stormtroopers around them, there was very little chance any of them would get off of D'Qar in anything other than a box as a corpse. Torq was dead, Bellona was unconscious, Jed had a serious injury in his thigh, and Gale had not only two useless arms but an unstable state of mind as well. Only Finn and Poe were still alive and unscathed. The former stormtrooper kept his coffee eyes on their surroundings, knowing that they could be ambushed yet again at any moment in time—and if they were, that would be the end; there was no way Finn and Poe could protect their three comrades and fend off the attackers at the same time.

"Duck!" Poe suddenly screamed ahead of them, diving to the ground and shielding Nightstar's body with his own. Finn didn't hesitate but threw himself and Gale onto the forest floor, with Jed doing the same right beside him. A huge, fiery missile shot above their heads; had they been standing, it would've ended their lives. Before any of them could catch their breath, three more missiles shot over their heads simultaneously. "Stop! Stop! We're with the Resistance! I'm Poe Dameron, Leader of Black Team, and the others are Green Team! We're on your side!" Poe finally shouted from his crouched position.

The missiles stopped firing, but the rebels knew better than to get up just yet. After what seemed like hours, Poe took a gamble and slowly stood, still stooped over Nightstar's body. He held up his hands. Finn heard some shouts from his position, though he wondered if they were real sounds; he had dirt, moss, grass, and even a bit of a twig stuffed in his left ear.

A few moments passed. When the smoke cleared, a small group of at least seven rebels advanced forward, blasters aiming at Poe's chest. The pilot's face betrayed no fear. One of the rebels, who seemed to be a leader of some sort, approached Dameron. After about a two second inspection, the leader ordered the others to lower their weapons; they obeyed. The leader held out his right hand. "Poe Dameron, eh? _The_ Poe Dameron, Black Leader, Hotshot Extraordinaire—Slayer of Ships and Lover of Women? Wow, never thought I'd meet you here on a ground battle. Why aren't you flying with your team? And why is a flight team on the ground with you?" the leader rushed, his sentences jumbling together. Poe took a moment to absorb everything the leader had said. "We're backup. We were out on a mission—no, I can't say, it's classified—and we got an emergency call from General Organa. We didn't have any X-Wings or Y-Wings or anything, so we figured we'd join the surface battle and…er, help you guys out," he explained. Finn and Jed slowly stood, dragging an impassive Gale with them.

The leader scowled. "Not much of a backup, eh? That one," he pointed at Jed, "took a bad shot to the leg. How he's still walking is beyond me. The babe he's carrying can't use his arms—and probably can't even feel the pain, either, judging by the look in his eyes. The girl's out cold, so that just leaves you and the stormtrooper." His eyes floated over to Finn. "Oh yes, I know who you are, Mr. Finn. Anybody who's anybody knows who you are," he spat disdainfully. Poe coughed into his fist, regaining the leader's attention. "So, you still have the information?" he asked.

"Of _course_ we still have the information—otherwise we'd all be dead! You think any of us would allow the information to fall into the First Order's hands while we still have breath in our lungs?! No, failure ain't an option."

Poe felt anger start to boil in his blood. _Wow_ , he thought, _who died and made this guy farking General?_ Instead of biting off the man's head like he wanted to, he flashed a phony smile as he tried to contain his temper. "Do you have any ships, any way to get off?" he asked, trying to assess the situation. The leader snorted. "D'ya think we're complete laserbrains?! No, of course we don't have ships because otherwise we'd obviously be long gone and back at Yavin 4! I'm pretty that's _your_ job as backup to bring the ship!" he snapped. Poe felt his gaze shifting to the other rebels. Most had not even the slightest expression on their face, but a few were snickering, most likely at the pilot and not the leader. Poe had enough. "Listen, Mr.—"

"Mareck. Commander Zeff Mareck."

"Commander Mareck, our orders were to retrieve the _information_ , not the _crew_ , so I'd suggest that you cut with tongue and try to be helpful," Poe finished, his courtesy gone; his dark eyes were cold, serious. Commander Mareck wasn't a fool; he was nearly forty and had been a soldier for most of his life, and he could tell the intentions of any being. Poe meant business. He allowed himself to lower his pride and act more evenly. "Dameron, if we don't get off this planet in about twenty minutes, we will be found, shot, and killed, and the information will fall into the hands of Snoke," he said in a straight-forward manner.

Poe's easy-going personality soon returned. "All righty then, let's get out of here. I never like this stupid planet anyway."

* * *

Rey managed to kill four stormtroopers before the first Knight spotted her.

All she knew was that one moment she was decapitating a white helmeted head, and the next she was flung against a tree by some unseen force. Immediately suspecting the worst—Kylo Ren—she jumped onto her feet and reactivated her lightsaber. Only…it wasn't Kylo Ren. He was robed like the dark warrior, but he wore no hood and had a silver helmet instead of a black mask; his lightsaber was standard, like hers, and not a cross-hilt like Ren's. Even without those clues, she could tell he was someone else entirely due to the fact that he was too tall and his shoulders were too broad. She reached out with the Force; no, it wasn't Ren—this one's conscious was much more…twisted.

The Knight pointed his red blade at her. "Alive…by any means necessary," he rasped in a voice coated with crackling static. Rey felt the icy sensation of fear trickle down her spine; this wasn't going to be easy.

* * *

About half a mile away, TK-1138 felt the consciousness of a Force-user reaching out around him—no, her. It was a girl who was reaching out. He immediately dropped his blaster and started sprinting towards the direction of the Force-user. "TK-1138! I command you to stop!" ordered Captain Phasma behind him. The mock-stormtrooper turned and thrust his hand out towards her, and the captain flew back several meters. Satisfied with his puny revenge, TK-1138 continued running, hoping that he would arrive in time.

* * *

The first blow was exceedingly hard so that Rey was having difficulty keeping a grip on her lightsaber. The second blow was, if anything, stronger. Rey lost her balance and nearly fell, barely having enough time to recover before the Knight struck again. She leaped backwards and landed on her feet and her left handing, holding her blue blade in front with her right.

The Knight casually waved his lightsaber in the air, hacking at imaginary foes, his gaze behind his helmet never leaving Rey's own. Then he reached out with his hand. Rey felt something pull at her, so she instantly retaliated with one of the moves Master Luke taught her: she reached out with the Force and cut the Knight's hold. Whatever expression her foe had was masked by the expressionless metal face. The Knight wasn't about to give up, however. A rock the size of an astronomical droid flew at Rey's head, but she was able to deflect it with her own telekinesis. The Knight tried pushing a tree down on her, but she was able to catch it and push it back at him. The Knight growled in frustration; his powers were outmatched by Rey's abilities in the Force.

Instead, he resolved to demonstrating his skills with his lightsaber.

He rushed at her with incredible speed, barely a black and silver blur shooting across the brown and green surroundings. He stabbed at her right shoulder (for he had recognized that she was right-handed) but was parried by the girl. He was just about to sweep his blade in an attempt to sever her leg when he was flung several meters back and collided with a large tree. Rey grinned; she could almost taste victory. Then she heard the sound of a blaster firing right at her head. The shot missed by mere inches. She turned to face this new opponent. "Don't move, Jedi scum," the stormtrooper said.

She threw her lightsaber and watched as it buried itself in the stormtrooper's chest, but before she went to retrieve it, she paused; hadn't that been in her vision?

Unbeknownst to her, the Knight had recovered by now. Seeing that she was unarmed and facing away from him, he decided to use the Force one last time.

Rey flew like a lifeless rag doll until she crashed into an enormous tree. Her vision went blurry. Though she was still conscious, she couldn't move any part of her body. She saw the Knight looming above her, his ruby blade pointing at her throat. "You're my master's now," he hissed. Rey tried to reach with the Force but her thoughts wouldn't collect; she was completely stunned. The Knight's head moved to her legs. "I can't have you running around anymore. My master wouldn't like it," he teased, wielding his lightsaber in the open air. Rey closed her eyes, waiting for the searing pain to tear through her body.

 _Crash!_

The girl's eyes flew open when she recognized the sound. The Knight's blade was locked in with a yellow one. Her mind raced. _A yellow lightsaber?_ She couldn't turn her head to see its owner, but whoever it was had the Knight's undivided attention.

TK-1138 grinned from behind his helmet. No longer would he have to hide from Ren and the First Order; no longer would he have to call himself by anything other than the name his parents had given to him at birth. With ease, he brought up his lightsaber and twirled it in his white armored hand. He could sense the fear in the Knight. "You should be dead," the servant of darkness commented; there was no way he could be alive—no way! _Master said he was dead…Master said that he killed him with his bare hands._ Whatever his master had said had been a lie, however, and he now knew that. Wearily, he raised his lightsaber and pointed it at his new opponent. TK-1138 (how he hated that silly name!) whirled his weapon around and beckoned for the Knight to come at him with his free hand.

Rey watched in silent wonder as the Knight and the stormtrooper paced in a circle, always directly in front of each other. Then, with a shout, the stormtrooper advanced upon the dark warrior, dealing several blows. She watched with astonishment when she realized that the Knight was struggling to deflect and parry the blows, whereas the stormtrooper seemed very relaxed and only used one hand to wield his blade.

The stormtrooper batted away a clumsy lung and quickly dealt the Knight blow to the arm. The Knight swore loudly and backed away, holding his injured arm to his chest. A strange sound was emitting from the stormtrooper; Rey soon recognized it as laughter. She had never heard a stormtrooper laugh before, other than Finn—but that hardly counted, not to mention he hadn't been in uniform. "Come on, Sith scum! Come at me!" the stormtrooper taunted, casually twirling his yellow lightsaber in the air, occasionally switching hands as he twirled it around his back and over his head.

Out of pure panic, the Knight sprung forward and slashed at his adversary. The stormtrooper easily deflected the blade and, with a flick of his wrist, managed to dislodge the Knight's grip on his blade. The ruby lightsaber automatically deactivated as it flew off into a shrub. The Knight barely had time to accept his fate when the yellow blade sliced through his abdomen, cutting him in two. Thus did the Knight of Ren die.

By this time, Rey had managed to recover her wits. She leapt onto her feet and, reaching out with the Force, called her lightsaber to her. She activated the brilliant blue blade and pointed it at the stormtrooper, who deactivated his own. He attached it to his white belt and held up his hands. "Who are you?" the girl demanded. He lifted his hands up to his head and removed the helmet. Rey saw the face of a man, a man of about the same age of Kylo Ren. He had dark brown hair and blue-green eyes. "My name is Galen Bridger. I was Luke Skywalker's first student. Now I think we really need to get out of here before Ren finds us," he said in what Rey deemed as a rich, deep voice.

"You! Don't move!"

Before she even had time to blink, Galen activated his yellow lightsaber, deflected the stormtrooper's fire, and somehow managed to get one of the blasts to bounce back and hit the shooter. He turned around and offered her his hand. "We've got to go," he repeated. Rey hesitated for another second—but when she heard the sound of more gunfire, she quickly grabbed the man's hand and started running.

* * *

A/N: That took forever to write. There was no inspiration for Zeff Mareck; it was just the first name that popped into my head. Ya, so I killed off Torq, and yet you guys barely got to know him. Sorry. I hoped you guys liked the fight scenes; I'm usually very bad at describing scenes like that. Galen's name was inspired by Galen Marek, the Secret Apprentice from _The Force Unleashed_ games, and as for his surname...well, keep reading and find out!


	6. Chapter Five: The Escape

A/N: This chapter is more of a filler. The next chapter is supposed to answer a lot of the questions you as a reader may have, many relating to Luke's failed Jedi academy and the rise of Kylo Ren. Still, though it doesn't have much quantity, I hope you think it has good quality. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Five: The Escape

Commander Zeff Mareck shot at a stormtrooper, missing by nearly two feet. He swore loudly and shot again, and he was rewarded by the satisfying sound of a dying man's screams. He motioned for the others to follow him.

To Jed Keplin's relief, the D'Qar team wouldn't take no for an answer when it came to carrying Green Team's hapless members; however, he absolutely refused any assistance other than a proper bandage in his off-white jacket's stead. Bellona seemed to be stirring a bit, her eyes fluttering open from time to time, but Gale was—if anything—worse. He kept moaning about something called "malala" and saying "I'm sorry, Torq, I'm sorry, I'll take care of your malala, I'll take care of your malala." If any of the other rebels were annoyed by his constant ramblings, they said not a word.

Finn felt completely exposed even though they were still in the forest. He turned to Poe. "How are we going to get back to the ship? Where's the rest of the back up? There's no way we're getting off this stupid rock alive," he fretted. The pilot shook his head and held his finger up to his lips, then pointed to the left of him. Finn's eyes followed in that direction. _Druk_ , he swore inwardly. There was a figure cloaked in black with a red lightsaber. One of the other rebels saw him. "Is it Ren?" he whispered, the fear naked in his large eyes. Finn quickly shook his head; that wasn't Ren's lightsaber. "It was be one of the Knights," another rebel answered. No one bothered to ask what the Knights were; everyone knew the stories about the Knights of Ren. Mareck aimed his blaster at the Knight, only for his arm to be grabbed by Poe. "You have no idea what they're capable of," he mouthed. Mareck took his advice and lowered his weapon, his gaze never wavering from the figure clad in black.

 _Snap, snap, snap!_

The former stormtrooper whipped his head around to see a familiar friend racing towards him—a friend he had not see for nearly a year. He couldn't help himself. "Rey!" he shouted. That caught the girl's attention. She stopped running and gaped at him, hardly believing what she was seeing. It caught the attention of the Knight, too. The dark warrior turned and saw where the rebels were hiding…and the girl his master had ordered him to capture was standing. He yelped with delight from behind his black and red mask; _he_ was going to be the one to deliver the girl to his master. He reached into the Force and jumped.

He landed right in the middle of the cowering rebels. One of them was quick enough to fire a few shots at the Knight, but they were easily deflected back at him; the rebel was killed by his own blaster. The Knight and began slaughtering the other rebels, who were no match for his skill with a lightsaber. Rey, realizing the danger, gave a shout and charged at the man, slashing at him with her own blue blade. The Knight turned his attention from the pathetic rebels to the girl, blocking her attempts to sever his arm. Then he heard the sound of another lightsaber activating. Kicking the girl away from him so that he would have time to confront the new adversary, he spun on his heel. When he saw who he was facing, it took all of his willpower to keep from dropping his weapon. The opponent had a cocky smile on his face. "Bridger," the Knight hissed.

Galen Bridger chuckled. "Ya, me," he replied.

The Knight knew better than to allow Bridger to have the first attack. He threw his red blade at the mock-stormtrooper, who ducked and thrust out his arm. The Knight was very skilled in the ways of the Force, but he was no match for Bridger's power; he flew back about thirty feet and was slammed into a tree. With incredible speed that neither the rebels nor Rey had witnessed before that could've only been enhance by the Force, Galen rushed to the Knight and impaled him with his yellow blade. He turned and faced the others. "I know that you're probably thinking a lot of crazy things right now, but I'll tell you what's important: I'm not a stormtrooper, I'm a friend, I have a lightsaber, and I know how to use it," he hollered. That was enough for Mareck. He ordered his group to keep on moving towards the location of the Green Team's ship.

Finn, Poe, and Rey remained behind; Jed had considered staying with them but decided against it, believing that Jedi witcheries were unnatural and shouldn't be fiddled with. Rey hooked her lightsaber back on her belt and turned to Finn. They stared at each other for a few seconds without saying anything. Poe frowned. "So…are you guys gonna say anything or not because I'm kind of waiting for you guys to say something because it's getting kind of awkward," he said, breaking the silence. Rey and Finn embraced each other, holding each other tightly. Poe, now feeling kind of embarrassed, turned away and found himself staring at "Bridger." He wasn't that tall, around Finn's height (though neither of them were too short to be stormtroopers, he realized), but had pretty broad shoulder. His hair was a dark enough brown that it would look ink-black when wet, but his eyes…his eye were blue-green, which wasn't that odd, but they just looked strange—as though they were pools of knowledge, knowledge that mortals shouldn't be allowed to have access to. To his surprise, Bridger was staring straight back at him, as if he were sizing the pilot up, too.

"Where've you been? Rey, I've been so worried…you never contacted us…we even went looking for you before we were called here," rambled Finn after they released each other. Rey grabbed her friend's hands in her own, staring up into his face. "I'll tell you all about it once we get back on the _Falcon_. Chewie's missed you, you know," she added. "What's Luke like? Is he like all the stories the First Order told us—" began Finn but was cut off by Galen. "Luke's nothing like the crazy stories the First Order brainwashed you with. He's perhaps the greatest man who's ever lived," he said curtly. He turned his blue-green gaze to Rey. "We need to get off. _Now._ Once Ren realizes that two of his Knights are dead and that some stormtrooper is running around with a yellow lightsaber, he'll know that I'm here and that I've probably got you. We can finish telling each other how much we love one another later," he said brusquely. Finn frowned, annoyed by this stranger's words. _This guy's accent is very similar to Rey's_ …

Rey, remembering where she was and who she was, nodded and let go of Finn's hands—though it seemed as though she were reluctant to do so. "You're right. We need to get back to the _Falcon_ ," she agreed.

"And make sure that the Green Team and the D'Qar team gets out with the information," added Poe.

"And make sure that we can trust random guys we've just met," added Finn, shooting a glanced of mistrust at the man with the yellow lightsaber through narrowed eyes. Bridger snorted. "Let me introduce myself since none of you know me—well, one of you actually knows me but can't remember a thing—and we're probably going to be seeing a lot of each other for the next several days, so…my name's Galen Bridger. I was one of Luke Skywalker's students. I survived." He turned to Finn. "You're FN-2187, also known as 'Finn.' You," he said, pointing at Poe, "are Poe Dameron, the best pilot in the Resistance. The girl calls herself Rey. See? Now we all know each other. Now let's quit with the chitchat and get off this planet."

Rey's dark brow furrowed. "I never told you my name," she commented, placing a hand on the hilt of her lightsaber. Galen didn't even blink. "No, you didn't. We can talk about that later once we're out of Ren's reach," he snapped. Rey didn't have the energy to argue with the man she just met. She grabbed Finn's hand. "Come on. Let's get out of here," she said, and started off in the direction of the _Millennium Falcon_ and the wookie warrior Chewbacca. Finn started after, with Poe waiting until Galen was walking beside him; just because the guy had killed a Knight and pretty much save their lives didn't mean that he was entitled to have their trust. His eyes never left Galen, who noticed this; a small smirk formed on his lips. _This is going to be interesting_ , he thought.

* * *

Kylo Ren was meditating in his shuttle, trying to use one of the skills Snoke taught him to complete his training. He was trying to find the consciousness of the girl. The girl knew where Skywalker was hiding. The girl had the lightsaber that Ren's by birth. The girl had injured him, humiliated him. Whatever the reason, he wanted—no, _needed_ to find the girl.

His Knights were searching the surface for the girl, but then of their powers were even close to Kylo Ren's own; if they found her, it would be due to pure luck. He breathing slowed; he could feel himself getting closer to finding her. Her training would definitely not be complete, unlike his own. If he found her, he could infiltrate her mind. There would be no escaping this time, no Han Solo or Chewbacca to save her. He smiled from behind his mask. It would be a welcomed bonus if he found the traitor, too: the traitor FN-2187, also known as "Finn."

He had her! He found her! He was so thrilled that he nearly lost his focus. He steadied his breathing and concentrated; there would be no escape, no surprises—

But there was something else. Someone else. His curiosity got the best of him; he shifted his attention to another. "No," he whispered, hardly processing the sound of his mask's robotic voice. He concentrated harder, harder than he'd ever dared before—but he had to be sure. There could be no mistake.

There was no mistake.

He ripped off his mask, the lapse of concentration breaking his connection. His breathing came in rugged breaths. "Galen," he hissed. He whipped around and grabbed a comm. "Call all of my Knights back to _Vader's Shadow_ , now!" he ordered. "Yes, sir," answered the receiver on the other end.

* * *

Just as Jed and the other rebels reached the ship, the unmistakable sound of X-Wings whooshing through the air reached their ears. The mechanic, who was on the verge of passing out, looked up with a silly grin on his face. There was their backup. He started laughing uncontrollably, resulting in Mareck grabbing him and tossing him onto the ship—but Jed didn't stop. He couldn't.

 _There's our backup,_ he thought, _just in time for Torq to be dead, Gale to be loony, Nightstar to be out cold, and me to probably have my leg amputated._ Tears welled in his eyes, though it was impossible to tell what kind of tears. _Some backup._

* * *

Chewbacca watched from the cockpit of the _Millennium Falcon_ as five figures raced towards it. He immediately recognized Rey, girl-who-speaks-Shyriiwook, and Finn, man-who-is-bad-at-wrapping-wounds—but he couldn't tell who man-with-brash-smile and man-with-bad-eyes were.

When they entered the _Millennium Falcon_ , Chewie immediately enveloped Finn in a furry hug. After he remembered how to breathe, Finn started grabbing at the wookie's shoulder. "Okay, Chewie…you can let go now…oh, I can't breathe," he gasped. Rey laughed. "All right, Chewie, I think Finn's had a good, long hug," she told him. Chewbacca purred and let go of the former stormtrooper, who immediately bent over. The wookie then turned his gaze to man-with-brash-smile and man-with-sad-eyes. Man-with-sad-eyes had white armor on, like the soldiers-who-shoot-at-friends. He bared his teeth and growled, reaching for his crossbow. Rey jumped in front of Galen while Finn attempted to restrain the wookie. "No, no! Chewbacca, this is Galen, and he's Poe. They're our friends," she said. The wookie sniffed; he didn't like this man-with-sad-eyes-called-Galen, though "Poe" reminded him of Han.

"Uh, sorry to break up the reunion guys—but there's a couple squads of stormtroopers heading this way," said Galen abruptly. Rey bounded over to the pilot's seat, Chewie taking the copilot—much to Poe's displeasure. "You let the dog be your copilot?" he asked, flabbergasted. The wookie growled. "He's the best first mate a pilot can ask for, and he knows the _Falcon_ better than anyone—and he's not a dog! That's a very rude thing to say!" Rey retorted. "I'll go man the guns," Finn said, and ran to another part of the ship, with Poe shouting "I'll come, too!" and following him. Rey took in a deep breath, flipped some switches, and pulled the controls upward. Galen grabbed her seat in order to stay upright; this was going to be rough.

The stormtroopers ducked for cover as the thrusters turned on and the _Millennium Falcon_ began to hover. Within seconds it flew off, out of D'Qar's atmosphere and into the endless vacuum of space.

* * *

A/N: Ya, that was really short. Extremely. The next chapter will be much longer and will explain some of the questions you may have, many in regard to Luke's Jedi students, the history of Ben Solo before he became Kylo Ren, the extent of Rey's training, and (possibly) Rey's heritage. Until next time!


	7. Chapter Six: The Jedi

A/N: AARRRGH! I would've updated last night, but the stupid freakin' Internet was down! Stupid freakin' hills making stupid freakin' Frontier even slower than normal...anyways, here's chapter six.

* * *

Chapter Six: The Jedi

Galen Bridger nearly lost his balance as the _Millennium Falcon_ left D'Qar's atmosphere. He muttered a curse under his breath and gripped the back of the pilot's chair with both hands. How he _hated_ flying!

A TIE Fighter tried to end their fight, but was quickly fired upon by the two Resistance soldiers manning the guns; over the comm, Rey, Chewie, and Galen heard whoops for joy. "Has the other ship left D'Qar yet?" Poe Dameron asked over the comm. Rey glanced out of the windshield. "Uh…yes, they just now exited D'Qar's atmosphere," she informed him before returning her attention back to piloting the _Falcon_. "Can you open a line of communication with them?" the pilot asked. Rey's brow furrowed as she answered. "I can try, but I don't know if they'll be able to pick me up. You were the ones who flew the blasted thing here—are its communications still intact?" she asked, turning knobs and punching buttons. She heard silence over the comm. "Uh…well, it _should_ still be intact—Jed said he was gonna fix it, I mean, but I don't know if he ever got around to doing it," Poe murmured from the other end at last.

"Well if he didn't, then he didn't! Give a straight answer!" growled Galen, who seemed to be very agitated at the moment—and who could blame him?

"I don't like this guy, Rey. He's mean, he's got a lightsaber, and he yells at me a lot. He's kind of scary…" said Poe, only half-jokingly. Galen rolled his eyes. "I would be a lot less mean and scary if we got out of the Ileenium system already," he grumbled. Rey looked up just in time to see the rebel ship shoot into lightspeed. She frowned. "They've gone into lightspeed, no chance of communication now," she commented. She heard a curse on the other end of the comm. "Speaking of which," said Finn on the other end of comm, "we shoot probably enter lightspeed ourselves. More ships are leaving the atmosphere." Rey mumbled some ship technicalities that no one other than Chewie could understand as she flipped on a few switches.

The next moment, they were entering lightspeed.

* * *

Petro Varden frowned and shook the screen he was holding. The tracker couldn't even give an approximate location on the _Millennium Falcon_. "They must've entered lightspeed," he mumbled to himself. He heard some moans from Norvvik's quarters on the bounty hunters' ship, _Sunrider_ , and shuddered; he didn't like Norvvik's habit of bringing women onboard. It reminded him too much of when he lived on Tatooine as a slave, before he was freed and brought to Coruscant…

He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He had to concentrate. This job was too with too big a bounty to lose. It didn't matter that Norvvik seemed to have implied that his Tongruta consort was going to be staying with them. It didn't matter that Norvvik was most likely plotting Varden's death while he made love to that woman.

No, it didn't matter.

* * *

Finn and Poe entered the cockpit, glancing suspiciously at Galen. The former stormtrooper turned his gaze to Rey. "Don't you think everybody has a little bit of explaining to do?" he asked casually. The girl nodded and faced Galen. "I've got questions that need answering," she informed him, narrowing her eyes.

He shrugged and fiddled with the hilt of his lightsaber, which Rey immediately noticed. She had only seen three lightsabers in her entire life: Luke's, Kylo Ren's, and her own. But Galen's was probably the strangest. It was longer, longer than hers by at least five centimeters, and had a black recharge socket grip that almost covered the entire hilt. It was made out of a dark metal, very deep grey, though it still managed to catch and reflect light. She couldn't see an activation plate—though if there was one, it must've been very small. There was a large emitter shroud that four metal talons slightly curved outward and upward, as though they would be defending the yellow blade that would be emitted there. She could see that there was a metal ring attached the bottom of the hilt that would allow the hilt to dangle from the built. Though she felt as though her own saber was the most beautiful and elegant weapon of the Jedi that she had ever seen, she still admired the skill it took to create such detailed weapon.

"Where'd you get your lightsaber?" she asked suddenly, before she could stop herself. Galen smirked slightly. He unhooked his hilt and activated the brilliant yellow blade, twirling it in his right hand indifferently. After a few seconds, he raised it into front of him, slowly waving it for the others to see. "Back in the days of the Jedi Order," he began, "part of a Jedi's training was being able to build their own lightsaber. Master Luke, when he first started to rebuild the Order, understood that this was essential in the completion of a Jedi's skills. I myself spent almost two years just collecting parts for the hilt and crystal chambers. To find a lightsaber crystal was the harder part. They're extremely rare, even in the places where we can actually find them. Back in the old days, Padawan learners would go to the Caves of Ilum to find their own crystals. Being Luke's oldest student, I was one of the few that had the opportunity to go to Ilum and find my own crystal. Once it was built into my lightsaber, the color turned out to be yellow, which is rarer than the blue and green crystals. It took me about three days to construct my lightsaber. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life." Rey listened with great interest; she loved hearing about anything that related to the Jedi Order, since Luke had told her only some of the basics. "So you built yours yourself," she whispered, hardly believing it. He nodded and deactivated his lightsaber.

Poe, however, wasn't very impressed by Galen's story. "Speaking of the Jedi, you better start talking so that I can see whether or not we should throw you off this ship or not," he warned curtly. Galen frowned as he hooked his hilt back onto his belt. "Fine," he sighed as he straightened back and threw back his shoulders. He took a breath before he began.

* * *

He had been born four years before the Battle of Endor to the widow Mara Bridger. His father, who was named Ezra, had been killed by the Sith Lord Darth Vader before Galen's birth. He had been raised in a small, one-room house by his mother; he was never allowed outside of the house, and though he never learned the exact reason why, he suspected that his mother feared he would be discovered by the Empire and taken. About a year after the Battle of Endor, when Luke Skywalker had made his intentions to rebuild the Jedi Order clear, Mara brought Galen before the Jedi. Perhaps Skywalker had been surprised at receiving a student so young and so soon after the battle, but he accepted Galen as his first pupil. Galen never saw his mother again; she died soon afterward.

For three years, Galen remained Master Luke's only student. He was very strong in the Force and quickly learned what Skywalker taught him with ease. Galen found out that he could levitate objects in the air and leap higher than he'd ever dared to dream—and, speaking of dreams, he dreamt of his parents often; he had never seen his father's face before. He lived for his lessons with Master Luke, who became the father he never had. When Skywalker wasn't teaching him in the ways of the Force he was taking him across the galaxy, visiting planets and learning cultures and religions; Master Luke even had a permanent dwelling on Mandalore.

It may have been due to Galen's natural affinity with the Force that caused Luke to become frustrated with his newer students, for they were not as nearly talented as Galen. He himself noticed that the other pupils struggled where he excelled. However, he knew better than to have a haughty spirit; he humbled himself and tried to help the others when he could. He worked harder, practiced longer, and studied more assiduously than all of the rest of the students. Master Luke even leant him a holocron the Jedi had found in a Star Destroyer. Galen eagerly studied its contents keenly, absorbing its knowledge. When he was about eleven, he constructed his own lightsaber.

Galen had been nearly fifteen when a new student arrived at the temple: Ben Solo, son of Leia Organa and Han Solo, nephew of Master Luke Skywalker. The other students expected him to be some younger version of their master; Galen expected a frightened boy with a chip on his shoulder—and that was exactly what Master Luke received. Everyone believed that Ben, as a member of the Skywalker line, should be the best of all the students and the most talented. Under the pressure, Ben crumbled. Luke wasn't much of a help to the boy; he had too many other students to worry about to concentrate all of his attention on one pupil. Galen took him under his wing. Galen became his friend, and he became Galen's.

For the next several years, Galen and Ben were brothers. Whenever Ben needed some tips on how to lift a heavy object with ease, Galen helped him; whenever Galen wanted to be challenged by a worthy adversary, he went to Ben. Ben told Galen about all of the problems his parents had and how it was eating him up alive. Whether he meant to or not, Galen grew to hate his adopted brother's parents almost as much as Ben himself, hardly being able to stand the sight of them whenever Ben invited him on a visit. Galen was disgusted by Ben's mother, who seemed to care about her work more than her family, but the father—the father was a monster; he was never there for his wife or his son.

As they left childhood and entered manhood, they became distant from each other, though Galen didn't notice it until the end. Galen was completely absorbed in his studies; he wanted to become a fully-fledged Jedi and help Master Luke teach the students. He didn't pay attention to Ben's inner demons. He didn't see the cloud of darkness that surrounded him. He didn't notice that his adopted brother was slipping farther and farther from the light. He didn't notice Ben was being tempted by the dark side.

* * *

"I…I don't want to talk about the massacre," he said suddenly, interrupting his own story. He frowned, and his fingers began playing with his lightsaber hilt. Galen then turned his blue-green gaze to Rey. "You were there, you know," he said suddenly. The girl flinched as though someone had struck her. "What?!" she gasped. Finn and Poe exchanged looks; where the Jedi going with this? Galen nodded, repeating his statement. Rey shook her head. "That…that's not possible! I remember what happened just before I was left on Jakku—I…I was with my mother!" she protested. The former Jedi sighed. "Yes, I know. Her name was Jade. I spoke with her shortly after she left you at the temple. Rey couldn't believe what she was hearing; she had been a student of Luke's before her mother left her on Jakku—but why hadn't Luke told her? "But I don't remember being a student," she argued. Galen shrugged. "Don't underestimate the power of the Force, Rey," he replied.

Rey slumped back into her chair. She couldn't believe it, she couldn't believe it. She'd been a Jedi learner…she'd been a Jedi learner. She just—she just couldn't believe it. "He didn't tell me that much, only that Ben had turned to the dark side and killed the other students. Why didn't he tell me? Why?" she moaned. She felt betrayed. And how had he made her forget? Did he use a Jedi mind trick on her?

She thought back to what Luke had told her. After the Battle of Endor, Luke had decided to rebuild the Jedi Order at the Temple of Eedit on Devaron in the Outer Rim Territories. His first student had been a male named Galen. After about twenty years, one of the students, Ben Solo, turned to the dark side, took the name Kylo Ren, and—with help from his Knights—slaughtered most of the students. He said that he knew that a few must've survived, for not all of them were at the temple and a few managed to escape onboard a ship that Luke used to transport his students. Rey now knew that she had been one of those students who lived, and the male Galen was alive and standing right in front of her, staring at her.

The girl turned to Poe. "Can you take over for a while? I think I need to rest," she murmured, hardly comprehending her own words. The pilot nodded. "Sure, I'll take over. I mean, no wonder the wookie could fly this thing: it's a bucket of junk!" he exclaimed, pointing at the control. Rey allowed herself to give a small smile; Poe Dameron always had spirit.

* * *

" _These are the first steps."_

 _"Nooooooo!"_

 _Flashing lights. Watching a ship leave. She is alone._

 _Her mother is holding her hand, smiling. "Today's the day," she says. But Rey is scared. She doesn't want to stay at this strange building. "But Mommy, I don't want to stay here. I want to go home," she whines. Her mother sighs and kneels down to Rey's level. "It's okay, sweetheart. We'll still get to see each other often. I won't be gone forever. Whenever you feel alone, imagine your happy place, with me and you and your daddy on it." She kisses Rey's forehead. "I love you, Rey, very, very much," she whispers. Rey wraps her arms around her mother's neck. "I love you, too, Mommy."_

 _It's dark, stormy. One of her friends, Bogan, slumps to the floor. Above him looms a dark figure with a red lightsaber. Though Rey is scared, she is also curious; she had never seen a red lightsaber, not to mention one with two smaller blades protruding out of it. The dark figure strides over to her and crouches down. Rey trembles. She can't see the eyes or the face. "Don't be frightened," croons a robotic voice. Rey is even more scared than before. "I want my mommy," she whimpers._

 _She is roughly tossed in a hole. "Stay here. No matter what happens, no matter what you hear, don't come out," a strained voice orders. But Rey doesn't want the owner of the voice to leave. "No!" she protests, lunging forward and grabbing the figure's sleeve. The figure grumbles something under his breath and turns to her. "It's all right," the voice says softly, "I'll come back for you. I'm not going to leave you. Sit tight, love."_

 _They're arguing. "You mean that you won't take her?" her mother asks, astounded. "No, I won't. It's too dangerous. You must take her as far away from us as you can. She's not safe with us anymore," another voice, a deeper one, answers her. "And where can I take her? If they'll be searching the entire galaxy…" her mother's voice trails off. "Not the entire galaxy, and not for just one girl. They'll try to find the older students first," the deeper voice replies. "But she'll remember everything! What'll happen if she asks someone about it?" her mother worries. "She won't. I'll make sure of it."_

 _"You have to convince him to leave, Rey. He's the only chance we've got to bring us back together."_

 _"But I can't!"_

Rey awoke, her breathing uneven, her palms slick with cold sweat. _They meant to leave me_ , she realized. _They meant to leave me on Jakku and never meant to return. But why?_ She covered her face with her hands, trying to find an answer. But nothing came shooting at her, no memory buried away inside of her, nothing. She cried out in frustration and slammed her fist into the wall, biting back a yelp of pain. It was all muddled together in her head. While the dream had brought back some of her memories to the surface, it also confused her even more. Why had her mother left her at the temple? Who was Bogan, and what had happened to him? Why hadn't Kylo Ren killed her? Who had rescued her? Who had been telling her mother to abandon her? "It doesn't make any sense!" she protested, falling back on her bed. She rubbed her temples, trying to relieve the dull ache that was beginning to throb.

She realized that her memories weren't going to be answers, but instead more questions.

* * *

Finn sat in front of the chess board, but he wasn't interested in playing; the only other person who wasn't occupied was Galen, and he didn't necessarily want to play chess with a man he'd just met.

His mind traveled to thoughts of Rey. She was safe. Ren and his Knights hadn't captured her…yet. He shook that last foreboding thought out of his mind. No, Ren and the Knights weren't going to capture Rey any time soon; he would make sure of that. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice Galen staring at him.

"You care about her."

Finn nearly leapt out of his skin—after an hour of silence, who wouldn't? "Huh?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, as he directed his attention towards the former Jedi learner. Galen hadn't bothered taking off his stormtrooper armor since they were still in lightspeed and had yet to enter a planet's atmosphere. "You care about her. Deeply. It's written all over you face and in your eyes. You can't stop thinking about her," he repeated. Finn averted Galen's gaze, staring down at the chess table. "I don't appreciate having a Jedi mind trick done on me," he said bitterly. Galen snorted. "Jedi mind tricks hardly work like that. Besides, you're not weak-minded enough. I can just tell by the way you look at her," he pointed out.

"Is it _that_ obvious?"

"Well, I'd probably be able to tell even if it wasn't but yes, it is quite obvious." Galen leaned forward onto the chess table, activating it, but he didn't seem to notice that one of the little holographic creatures lifted another over its head and slammed it onto the board. "You know, back in the old days, Jedi were forbidden to love. Falling in love could result in being shunned," he said casually. Finn frowned and looked back into the man's blue-green eyes. "But I wouldn't worry," Galen reassured him, "if I were you. Nowadays, nobody really cares about the old Jedi traditions. Even Master Luke encouraged the students to love, saying that it was essential in conquering the dark side. But perhaps he has forgotten that love is a two-edged weapon: while it can save one from the grip of the dark side, it has often been the force that pushes him over the edge. Look at Darth Vader, for instance: he fell into the dark side because he believed that it would save his wife, but his love for his son is what brought him back. A strange thing, love is. Love can save a man, but it can also destroy him. Funny, how it works. My mother loved me so much that she left me in the care of a man she had never met—in hopes that I would become a good man when I grew. I don't understand love. I don't think that anyone has understood it—and no one ever will understand it." After he had finished his speech, the Jedi sighed and turned away, facing Poe Dameron and Chewbacca's backs. "Just…just be careful about your heart," he muttered.

Finn looked down at his hands. He wasn't sure if he loved Rey or not…yet. Whether he liked it or not, he knew that Galen was right.

* * *

Kylo Ren knelt before the hologram of Supreme Leader Snoke. "Master," he began, "the girl managed to evade capture…but she had help. Help from Galen Bridger,"

The hologram of Snoke scowled. "Bridger. So he lives," he rasped. He gazed downward on his apprentice. "Rise, Kylo Ren, master of the Knights of Ren," he ordered. Kylo Ren obeyed. He stood straight and threw his shoulders back. Snoke's hologram paced back and forth, his scarred hands folded behind his back. "This is… _unfortunate_ news, but now we know that at least two of Skywalker's students are alive, and both very powerful. Do you know the extent of the girl's training?" he added. "No, Master. But she was nearly detained by one of the Knights—and she would've been, too, had it not been for Bridger. He killed two of the Knights," he reported. Snoke's disfigured face seemed to relax, though it was almost impossible to tell. "So Skywalker still remains the last Jedi Knight," he mused.

"But if the girl takes Bridger to him, then he will—"

"The girl won't make it back to Anch-To. Where are the two bounty hunters you hired? I seem to recall that one of them claimed to have planted a tracker on the _Millennium Falcon_ ," Snoke hissed. "I'll give them their orders immediately," Kylo Ren assured him. The hologram shook its head. "I want the girl _alive_ , Kylo Ren, and unharmed. Kill Bridger only if you must, but, if possible, I want him, as well. Bridger would be a powerful…asset to our cause," he commanded. Kylo Ren dipped his head. "It will be done, my master," he swore. The hologram vanished, leaving the dark warrior alone.

* * *

A/N: I might've overdone it with the EU references. The bounty hunters' ship, _Sunrider_ , is a reference to Nomi Sunrider, Grand Master of the Jedi Order in the Old Republic. Mara Bridger and Rey's mother Jade are references to Luke Skywalker's EU wife, Mara Jade Skywalker. The Temple of Eedit (also called the Eedit Temple) was the Jedi Temple Savage Opress attacked in the _Clone Wars_ TV show. So...I killed Ezra from _Star Wars: Rebels_! Yay for me! I hope I don't get backlash for that, but let's face it: if Ezra managed to complete his Jedi training, he would've had to have die before the Battle of Endor to keep the storyline consistent (since Luke was supposed to become the last Jedi Knight after he face Darth Vader the second time, that meant that Ezra didn't complete his training, he died before the Battle of Endor, or both). Anyways, my story, my rules. I'm still going to keep trying to update every day.


	8. Chapter Seven: The Temple

A/N: Today was busy. Sorry I didn't update sooner. For those of you who are worrying about whether or not I'm quitting on this story: don't worry, this is still priority number one. Here's chapter seven.

* * *

Chapter Seven: The Temple

Nothing other than the message Kylo Ren sent them could've made Petro Varden happier. They had permission—no, _orders_ —to move in on the girl and the rebel scum she was hiding with. Nothing other than the message Kylo Ren sent them could've made Norvvik the Cruel angrier. He'd been hoping for a longer time with his Tongruta consort.

 _I can't wait for this job to be over so that I can finally leave the stupid greeny, buy my own ship, and start a career of my own_ , thought Petro.

 _I can't wait for this job to be over so that I can finally kill this stupid human, visit some cantina, and spend some more time with what's-her-name,_ thought Norvvik.

Now, all they had to do was wait for the _Millennium Falcon_ to exit lightspeed so that they could pinpoint the exact location they were at.

* * *

The rebel freighter safely landed on the surface of Yavin 4. The crew was met by teams of medics, officers, curious bystanders, and General Leia Organa herself. Organa watched apprehensively as the rebels exited the freighter, carrying one injured man. She felt her heart sink to the soles of her boots; so few survived.

Commander Zeff Mareck marched over to the general and saluted her. "General, we managed to escape with the information. Several of my team are injured, as are the three members of the Green Team we have," he reported. Organa's brow furrowed. "Only three? I thought that there were five," she mused. Mareck nodded. "One of them, Torq Inperium, died in combat and their leader, Finn, left with Black Leader Poe Dameron and two Jedi," he explained.

" _Two_ Jedi?" demanded the general, flabbergasted. "Yes, two. One of them was a human girl of about twenty, dark-haired, dark-eyed, with a blue lightsaber. The other was a human male of about mid-thirties, dark-haired, blue-eyed, in buckethead armor, with a yellow lightsaber. I never thought I'd live to see a single Jedi, let alone two in the same minute," he added in awe. Leia could hardly believe what she was hearing. Rey had returned. But…but this other Jedi wasn't Luke, so who was he? _Rey better try contacting us this time around_ , she thought. _After all, she took two of my best soldiers._

* * *

"We're exiting lightspeed!" exclaimed Poe. Sure enough, the _Millennium Falcon_ zoomed out of lightspeed and was cruising just outside of Anch-To's orbit. Galen felt his stomach clench in anticipation; so this was where Master Luke had been hiding since the fall of his school…

Rey smiled as she came up behind Finn. "I think you'll like him," she told her friend, "he told me he once disguised himself as a stormtrooper to save General Organa when she was still a princess." Finn nodded, not trusting his voice. He was going to meet the last Jedi Knight. He was going to meet the last Jedi Knight in the entire galaxy. "Arrruurrragh," rumbled Chewbacca. "Luke's kind of odd," Rey translated, "but he'll open up more once you've met him." Her grin grew wider as they entered Anch-To's atmosphere. Perhaps now her master would choose to leave the ancient Jedi temple and join in the Resistance's cause to defeat Supreme Leader Snoke and the First Order.

The _Millennium Falcon_ hovered about a hundred meters above the surface of Anch-To. Even from such a height, Rey and the others could see the lone minuscule figure staring up at the great Corellian ship. Rey snuck a glance at Galen; the former Jedi learner's face was unreadable.

Jedi Master Luke Skywalker watched as the late Han Solo's ship landed on the lowermost point on the island of Anch-To. He could already sense Rey and Chewbacca, but there were three others. One of them was Force-sensitive. One of them was very powerful. Luke felt his knees begin to quake. _Galen..._

Rey led the others out of the _Falcon_ and onto the surface of Anch-To. She saw that her master was striding towards them. Rey and Luke stopped about a meter apart from each other. Rey bowed slowly. "Master Luke, I have returned," she said. Her master nodded slowly and looked past her. Chewbacca stood behind her, next to a dark-skinned male. Behind them was a young human male with black hair and tanned skin. And behind him was a stormtrooper without his helmet. The head turned to meet the Jedi's gaze. It _was_ Galen. Luke Skywalker walked around the others, barely even acknowledging their presence, until he stood before his former apprentice. They stared at each other for several seconds. "Master," uttered Galen, breaking the silence.

"I thought you were dead, Galen. I thought that Ben had killed you."

"Ben is dead. Kylo Ren betrayed and murdered him. Ren then attempted to kill me, as well, but I defeated him. I should've killed him, but I was weak then. I'm not weak anymore."

"How did you escape?"

"The X-Wing you hid near the temple."

"Do you know who else escaped?"

"As far as I know, just me and Rey."

Luke shot a glance at the girl, who was staring at him with a questioning expression on her face. "She didn't know," he said, turning back to his former apprentice. For a split second, the Jedi thought he saw a flicker of anger in the man's eyes—but only for a second; then it was gone. "I know. She told me," he spat. "Perhaps we should speak about this another time," Luke said suddenly.

"No," growled Galen, "you've had over ten years to think about what you have to say for yourself. I want answers _now_ and I don't care who else hears them."

"Fine," Luke sighed, "what answers do you want?" Galen didn't even hesitate. "I want to know why you left us. I want to know why you abandoned the galaxy instead of bringing us back together to stamp out the threat before it got too powerful. I want to know why you shut everyone out and left us to hide. I want to know why you didn't try to find me. And I want to know why you wiped the girl's memories," he ranted. Luke glanced over at the others. Rey was staring at him with a hurt expression in her eyes.

"After Ren killed the other students…I felt like a failure. I failed with him, and I failed preparing the others for such an attack. I couldn't even look at myself, Galen! I was supposed to be the last Jedi Master, and yet I failed. And as for Rey…her mother wanted her to be safe from the reach of the First Order. I happened to be around, so she asked me to wipe some of those dangerous memories. I agreed. It was better that the girl live in confusion and isolation than have her captured by Snoke," he said.

Rey could tell that Galen wasn't that impressed by Luke's explanation. He still seemed…angry. "You didn't come back even after Rey found you. Why?" he demanded. "The time wasn't right," Luke informed him. Galen snorted, not believing a word of it. What told him that the time wasn't ripe? The Force? The ghosts of masters past? He restrained himself from hitting the older man. He'd abandoned them, and for what—that the time to return hadn't been right? "The time wasn't right. Great. Makes me feel a lot better," he scoffed. He turned his back on his former master and gazed far out into blue waters. Luke, knowing that there was nothing left to say, turned to the others. "Follow me. You all must be exhausted," he said.

* * *

Finn decided that the cave-like rooms of the temple (which seemed to be built into the rocky hills) were comfortable besides the fact that they were made of stone. Sure, it was cold and a little damp, but it gave a sense of strange and ancient security. "It was the first Jedi temple ever built," Luke Skywalker had said, "and one of the Order's most precious and sacred landmarks." Finn didn't really care for the idea of a "sacred place," and he could tell that Poe Dameron didn't, either; he could see that Rey was in awe of it—he could see it, the wonder, in her eyes—but Galen seemed to glance at everything once and not give it a second thought.

Since he didn't care much for the ancient Jedi holy place, Finn's thoughts wandered to other things, specifically the other members of the Green Team who had returned to the base on Yavin 4. He wondered whether or not Jed Keplin would have his leg amputated; he wondered if Bellona Nightstar had suffered any serious brain damage due to the heavy blow inflicted on her head; but, most of all, Finn wondered if Gale had recovered from the shock of his brother's death. He allowed himself to hope that Green 5 would recover if he hadn't already, but it was a false hope, and he knew it to be so; if there had been anything one could learn by looking at Gale's anguished face, it was that the remaining twin would never be quite the same in the mind ever again.

Poe's thoughts were quite similar; all he could think of was the condition of the other members of the Resistance who escaped. Personally, he'd wanted to immediately try and contact the base on Yavin 4, but he knew that the others would never allow it; they could be able to pinpoint the location of Anch-To, which could be easily leaked out to the First Order by a mole. Perhaps there was a way to contact General Organa and _only_ General Organa…however, if there was, he had yet to discover it. Then his mind soon wandered to his faithful droid, BB-8.

Contrary to the two Resistance war heroes, Rey—even though she had lived in a cave-like room in the temple—was fascinated by everything she saw; she had only ever visited the training room, Luke's room, and her own quarters during the year that she had spent there. "Here," Master Luke said as they approached a great stature of two halves, one black and one white, of a great figure, "is the statue of the great Prodigal Knight Revan. He was turned to the dark side but brought back to the light, and he served the Old Republic well." Galen noticed that his former master purposefully refrained from sharing the information of how Revan's Sith holocron later started the infamous Sith doctrine of the Rule of Two, but the former Jedi learner said nothing of it. They approached another statue, this one of a woman with a reserved look on her face, her arms folded against her chest, her chin pointing downwards towards the floor, her eyes closed. "Her name is Nomi Sunrider. She was Jedi Master who later became the Grand Master of the Jedi Order. A great Jedi, she was. Very powerful. She was one that any Jedi can look up to," he explained, though even he was clearly awestruck by the story behind the statue. "She was so powerful that she was able to sever a Force-user's connection with a wall of light, something that I can't even fathom attempting to do—something that even the brightest of my pupils, Galen, believed to be pure legend, that it is impossible," he continued. "I _still_ believe it's impossible," Galen snorted, "that one can severe another's connection with the Force. Sure, Sunrider may have been a great Jedi Master, but not even Master Yoda was ever able to repeat it. It can't be done, otherwise we would've already learned and Snoke and his minions would no longer be a threat." The last Jedi Knight shook his head. "There are many aspects of the Force that cannot be learned, nor taught. We can only hope that they will be rediscovered," he said. When his former master turned his back to him, Galen rolled his eyes. _I used to be mesmerized by the old stories, too, Master_ , he said silently, _but that was before the fall. That was before my brother was killed by Snoke's puppet. That was before my other brothers and sisters were slain by the Knights of Ren and their master, Kylo. I was but a boy then, Master, but now I am a man. Now I have no time for the stories of old. Perhaps there will be another time when I will be able to cherish our history as much as you do…but that's not today, or tomorrow, or many years to come. Now is all that matters. Put the past behind you and look into today. He who controls the present controls the past, he controls the past controls the future, and he who controls the future controls the present. We must control what we do today before we control what we claimed we did yesterday, and then control what we will learn from yesterday so that we will be wiser tomorrow. We have a war to fight right now, and telling potential pivotal members of that war stories about Jedi legends that may or may not be true is a waste of time._ He saw Luke shoot him a dirty look from over his shoulder. Galen shrugged, as if to say _It's true_.

Luke Skywalker told them other stories, of Grand Master Yoda, perhaps the greatest Jedi of the modern times, and how he dueled with the Emperor in attempts to prevent the rise of the Galactic Empire. He told them of the heroism of Obi-wan Kenobi—who was known to the Jedi Knight simply as "Ben," which was the namesake of Han and Leia's son—and how he fought with the corrupt Darth Vader and safely transported a pregnant Senator Amidala to a hospital where she conceived the last hopes of the galaxy, and how he labored to protect and watch over one of those children, and how he helped that child and a smuggler rescue a princess from the dreaded Death Star, and how he fought with the wicked Darth Vader for a final time, and how he finally allowed the Sith Lord to strike him down to buy the three youngsters time to escape. Finally, he told them of the rise and fall of the Sith Lord Darth Vader.

"He was perhaps the most powerful being who ever lived, and yet he came from the humblest beginnings: Anakin Skywalker, a young child—born a slave and raised on the dirtball called Tatooine. His mother's name was Shmi Skywalker, who had been captured as a young girl and sold into slavery. According to the mother, her son had no father. The boy and his mother were sold to a Hutt on the planet Tatooine when the child was around three or four. He was then sold to a despicable being named Watto. He remained in the creature's service until he was about the age nine, when a ship landed on Tatooine for repairs and would change the boy's life forever. Shortly after the ship landed, strangers appeared in the marketplace, looking for parts to repair their damaged ship. Anakin was working in Watto's shop when a man, a young girl, and a clumsy Gungan entered. He took them to his house to shield them from a sandstorm, where the man revealed himself as a Jedi Knight named Qui-Gon Jinn. Jinn later made a bet with Watto for the parts they needed and the boy Anakin—who the Jedi believed was the prophesied Chosen One who would restore balance to the Force—if Jinn won the bet, and Watto would win the ship if the Jedi lost. The Jedi won and took the boy with him to start present him before the Jedi Council—which consisted of ever Jedi Master in the Order. The Council refused to train him, sensing great fear in the lad, but later—after the Battle of Naboo and Qui-Gon's death—Jinn's apprentice, Obi-wan Kenobi, agreed to train Anakin, and the Council finally permitted it. The boy had developed a strong friendship with the young girl: Naboo's queen, Padmé Amidala.

"Obi-wan trained Anakin for nearly ten years before the boy saw Padmé again. While his master warned him to control his feelings, since the Jedi were forbidden to love, Anakin's passion for the former queen and now Senator of Naboo only grew. When he was sent on a mission to protect her on her homeworld of Naboo, he confessed his love for her. She admitted similar feelings of affection towards the Padawan, but she told him that it would never work: she was a Senator, devoted to serving her planet and the Republic, and he was a Jedi, devoted to the Order and protecting the peace in the galaxy. After receiving some terrifying visions of his mother's death, Anakin returned to Tatooine to find her, and Padmé went with him—much to the Jedi's displeasure. He found that a man had bought his mother and married her. The man's name was Lars. He had a son about Anakin's age, Owen—who had a young wife named Beru—and informed the young man that the Tusken Raiders had taken his mother months before. Anakin, ignoring Lars's warnings, went after her anyway—only to have her die in his arms. In his anger, he murdered every last member of the tribe, and swore to his mother's grave that he would one day be able to save the ones he loved from death and that he was sorry for failing to keep her alive. After Anakin and Padmé received a message from the Council that Obi-wan Kenobi had been captured on Geonosia, they agreed to go rescue him—resulting in their own capture. Before being transported to the arena where they were to be killed for sport by wild creatures, Anakin and Padmé confessed their undying love for each other. After the lovers—along with Obi-wan, who was perhaps the only member of the Order who knew of Anakin's sin—were rescued by many members of the Jedi Order and a clone army, and Anakin and Obi-wan had dueled Count Dooku, a Sith apprentice, resulting in the loss of Anakin's right arm, they were wed secretly on Naboo.

"For years, during the Clone Wars, they kept their love secret. The only ones that truly knew of any special connection between the Jedi Knight and the Senator was Obi-wan, Anakin's former master and dearest friend, and Ahsoka Tano, his apprentice—though even their knowledge was only to an extent. After Anakin and Obi-wan returned from their mission to rescue the then-Supreme Chancellor Palpatine and had killed the Sith Count Dooku, Padmé told her secret husband that she was pregnant with his child. Anakin, though he knew that the discovery of the baby meant his banishment from the Order, was ecstatic at the idea of becoming a father. However, the Knight was plagued by nightmares of Padmé dying in childbirth and became even more obsessed with finding a way to keep those he loved from dying. The Chancellor told Anakin that there were ways to keep one from dying…but they were only accessible through the dark side. Upon that revelation, Anakin realized that his friend was the Sith Lord and immediately reported his discovery to the Council. Mace Windu, a Jedi Master of great power, lead a small team of the best Jedi Masters to kill the Sith, but all but Windu were easily disposed of. The Sith cleverly made it seem as though he were too weak to fight the Jedi Master, that he could teach Anakin how to save those he loved from death, and swayed Anakin into preventing Windu from killing the Sith. The Sith then killed the Jedi. Anakin then swore his allegiance to the Sith, who was known as Darth Sidious, and Sidious renamed Anakin Darth Vader, and took him as his apprentice. Vader led reprogrammed clones into the Jedi Temple, killing every Jedi he came upon—regardless of rank and even age. Vader was then sent to Mustafar to kill the Separatists who were hiding there, ending the Clone Wars. Padmé learned of his location and traveled there, telling him that Obi-wan told her that Vader had killed younglings and turned to the dark side—though Vader's wife couldn't believe it. Vader then revealed that is was true, but that he was more powerful than Sidious and that he would destroy him, bringing peace and order to the galaxy. He then went on to say that he and Padmé would rule the galaxy together. Padmé then had to accept the fact that the man she loved had been consumed by Vader and his obsessions. However, before she could convince him to turn back to the light, Obi-wan exited her ship. Vader than felt betrayed by his wife, believing that she had brought the Jedi there to kill him—but Padmé hadn't known that Obi-wan had stowed away on her ship. Vader than resolved to choking her, but Obi-wan told him that she hadn't betrayed him. Vader then accused his former master of turning his wife against him, but the Jedi Master replied that the Sith apprentice had done that on his own. The two then began a violent duel, Vader's raw strength and power matched by Obi-wan's skill and experience. Eventually, Obi-wan gained the high ground and told his former apprentice that the fight was over. However, the latter believed that he was strong enough to defeat the Jedi anyway, and so he leaped up—but Obi-wan managed to cut off Vader's remaining arm and both of his legs in one skilled stroke. He then took Vader's lightsaber and left his former apprentice to die, not being able to strike him down himself. Vader's anger towards the galaxy and its cruelties turned to hate; he felt abandoned by everyone who he had ever loved: his mother, his apprentice (who had left the Order shortly before Vader's transformation), his wife, and his former master. Vader was badly burned by the magma of Mustafar to the point that his master marveled at the fact that he was still alive. A suit was constructed to keep Vader alive. Far away, Obi-wan witnessed the death of Padmé and the birth of hers and Anakin's two children: Luke and Leia. Leia was to be raised by Senator Bail Organa and his wife, Queen Breha Organa, while Luke was to be raised by his aunt and uncle: Owen and Beru Lars.

"The Sith Lord Darth Vader became a symbol of fear used by the Empire. He traveled around the galaxy, hunting Jedi and killing enemies of his master. For many years, he suffered the losses of those he loved: his mother, his wife, and his two unborn children. Eventually, it became his duty to stamp out the newly-formed Rebellion before it got too powerful. On the newly constructed Death Star, he met his former master once more. However, this time, Obi-wan allowed Vader to kill him. The Death Star was later destroyed by a Rebel pilot.

"Vader soon learned of this Rebel pilot's power. He became obsessed with finding him. He even went to the trouble of capturing the pilot's friends to use as bait. It worked. In a lightsaber battle that ended when the pilot's hand was cut off, Vader revealed his identity to him as his father. The pilot couldn't believe it. He then tried to lure him to the dark side, telling him that they would rule the galaxy together. The pilot escaped.

"The Sith Lord oversaw the construction of a second Death Star. However, his son surrendered himself to him, trying to turn his father back to the light. Vader didn't believe that there was still hope for him. He brought his son before the Emperor, who then tried to lure him to the dark side, taunting him, telling him that all of his friends would die. The son gave into his hatred and tried to kill the Emperor but was prevented by Vader. They then began to duel, the son calming himself. He then told his father that he would no longer fight him. Vader responded that if he wouldn't fight, then he would die, and that maybe his sister would be persuaded to join the dark side. He hadn't known that his wife had twins before then. This enraged the son, continuing the duel. The son eventually cut off one of the father's robotic hands, then realized that he was no different than the man who had betrayed and destroyed the Jedi Order. He refused to kill his father. The Emperor then shot electricity out of his hands, nearly killing the son. The son cried for his father's aide. Vader, after a moment's hesitation, then killed the Emperor, saving his son—but his suit was ruined in the process. He begged of his son to take off his mask. The son refused, at first, knowing that it would kill his father, but Vader insisted, saying that he wanted to see his son with his own eyes. The son finally complied. It killed Vader, but Anakin got finally got to see his child, the child he had told his wife so many years ago was a blessing. Anakin became One with the Force. He is a hero and will always be remembered as such."

Three of the listeners, who had never heard the story before, were shocked at what they heard.

 _I knew that Vader had turned to light at the end_ , thought Poe, _but I never knew that he'd been a Jedi before then. I never knew…I was never told._

 _So Vader hadn't been a prophet who recognized the growing threat of the Jedi's thirst for power_ , thought Finn. _He'd been a selfish individual who let his fears get too strong in his head. But how did he break free? Like I broke free? I don't understand…_

 _Incredible_ , thought Rey, _that one as evil as Darth Vader was able to return to the light in the end. He started out like Kylo Ren…perhaps there is redemption for him, too._

 _Love is the key to the Force,_ thought Galen, _because beings feel the need to attach themselves to someone. It's one of the main reasons we still maintain the desire to live. Love, life, and the Force. The Force binds life together and intelligent lifeforms are bound together by love. No wonder why the Jedi of old forbade a member of their Order to fall in love: it's too destructive. But perhaps…perhaps that was the greatest mistake: trying to go against the natural instincts of life._ He frowned. _Corruption is inevitable, no matter what we try to do. Corruption and chaos in the quest for order._

Luke showed them many other rooms—though not all of them, for there were far too many rooms to explore them all; even he hadn't fully seen every room in the temple. He showed the two Resistance soldiers to two large, cave-like rooms. Rey got to return to her own quarters. That left Luke and Galen alone.

The Jedi invited his former apprentice in his own quarters. There were doors in the round doorways, and Luke locked it after Galen entered. He then turned to the former Jedi. "You've changed," he commented. Galen shrugged, running a hand through his very short brown hair. "Of course. When you learn that your best friend's died and you could've stopped it, it messes with your head," he replied nonchalantly. Luke shook his head. "It was Ben's choice to fall to the dark side. There was nothing you could've done," he told him.

"Lies. I was his brother. He was mine. My duty as his surrogate brother was to watch out for him. I failed. I failed him, Luke! It wasn't your fault—you had too many other students to take care of at the same time, so that's what I was for: I was there for Ben. You have no idea how I felt having to fight Ren…don't tell me it wasn't my fault! It was! _I_ was there to ignore his cries! _I_ was there to abandon him! You were never there in the first place, so how can it be your fault? Quit blaming yourself, Luke. It never helped anything." Galen moved past his former master, brushing shoulders, and his fist closed over the doorknob.

"Anger leads to the dark side," Luke warned him.

Galen paused, as if he were thinking of something. Then he turned the doorknob, no longer locked, and stormed out of the room.

* * *

At that moment, the _Sunrider_ exited lightspeed near the orbit of Anch-To. Petro Varden immediately sent the coordinates to the First Order, knowing that the planet would definitely interest Kylo Ren and Supreme Leader Snoke. Norvvik grinned; from what the First Order had reported, there would be more than just the girl and the mysterious Jedi in the buckethead armor. They would get to have some fun before they collected their bounty. Though he knew that his human friend wouldn't have any part of it, it almost made the Mirialan happier. More pain for them, more pleasure for him.

* * *

A/N: Pretty much nothing happened here, just mostly backstory about the other movies in the series. Most of you probably (definitely) know everything that happened in the past films, but for fans new to the series that were introduced by _The Force Awakens_ , that pretty much sums up Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader's past. It actually hurt my brain having to write about the Prequel Trilogy. It's not that the storyline is necessarily bad, it's just that it was executed so poorly...as a Star Wars fan, it's painful. As a movie fan, it's even worse. The worst part was that I wrote more about the pre-ANH movies than the Original Trilogy, but the characters in tTotJ would know more about Anakin as Vader than Anakin as Anakin. It just freakin' sucked that, in order to keep the image of Anakin from tRotJ from being tarnished, I had to transform the whiny brat into a saint.

Nomi Sunrider and Revan are technically not canon anymore, but I feel as though they still deserve to be. I'm sure every true Star Wars fan agrees that the Old Republic deserves to be canon, as does the TFU (*HINT HINT* Disney *HINT HINT*).


	9. Chapter Eight: The Revelation

A/N: I'm going to be blunt: I reveal my idea of Rey's parentage in this chapter. Some of you probably won't like it because it will eliminate a possible subplot that a lot of people seem to be a huge fan of, but this is what I think is the only logical explanation of Rey's history. So I hope you enjoy, but then I really don't care if you don't, either.

* * *

Chapter Eight: The Revelation

"General Hux, we've received intel from the bounty hunters. It's the coordinates for an uncharted planet," reported one of the Petty Officers.

General Hux marched over to where the Petty Officer sat. "What?!" he demanded, peering over the Petty Officer's shoulder. The Petty Officer, unfazed by the General's brutal tone, calmly pointed to some numbers on his screen, saying "They're coordinates to some planet…it's never been charted before, nor has the system it's in—no records, nothing." Hux immediately knew what exactly that planet was and what it meant for the First Order. On the inside, he was exploding with triumph; on the outside, his face betrayed nothing but calm. "Save the coordinates to the databases and alert Kylo Ren immediately. He must have conference with Supreme Leader Snoke _at once_!" he barked. The Petty Officer nodded and turned back to his work as the general strutted away.

The doors to the holocommunication room opened with a resounding _hiss._ General Hux walked across the dark metal floor, his black boots echoing softly with each step. He walked over to the table-like object in the middle of the room and pressed a few buttons. The blurry blue image of Supreme Leader Snoke appeared. "What is so important so as to interrupt my…meditation?" he snarled. General Hux swallowed visibly before he began. "The two bounty hunters Kylo Ren hired to find the girl have sent us coordinates for an uncharted planet. They also sent a report saying that it seemed to be a planet entirely covered in water, like an enormous ocean. They reported that they had found one island on the surface of the planet and were attempting to land there," he informed.

"It's Anch-To. Skywalker's there!" boomed a robotic voice from behind the general.

Hux turned to see Kylo Ren storming into the room. The dark warrior was agitated, the general could tell, and constantly clenched and unclenched his fists. Snoke leaned forward in his throne in the hologram. "So Skywalker has been found…and the girl brought one of our biggest threats right to him," he growled, more to himself than to his apprentice or the general. Snoke then turned his gaze to Ren. "Go. Take your Knights and all of the First Order's soldiers with you, if you must. We must destroy Skywalker and any hope of the rise of a new Jedi Order. But…I want the Jedi's body, just so that there will be no false hope in the Resistance—but the girl and Bridger I want alive. I want to…sense them for myself, then determine whether or not they'll be of any use," he ordered. "I'll ready the fleet," responded General Hux. The Supreme Leader nodded in approval. "Go now, General," he commanded.

As General Hux exited the room, Kylo Ren turned back to his master. "The girl and Bridger somehow managed to kill two of my Knights. I don't know the extent of their powers. What if Skywalker has completed their training already? What if—"

"Calm yourself, my apprentice!" hissed the Supreme Leader. "There is no way that Skywalker completed the girl's training in a year, and you know Bridger better than anyone: do you really think that he still wants to be trained by the Jedi?"

"I don't know. The second fall of the Jedi may have done something to Bridger's mind…perhaps all he can think about is completing his training," replied the apprentice, unsure. Snoke's hologram leaned back in its throne. "The boy is broken—even I could sense it from Dromund Kaas when he realized who you were. It would be a miracle if he is entirely sane," he pointed out. _Or he's just angry,_ thought Kylo Ren, _very, very angry._ Snoke's hologram pointed a blue finger. "Go."

* * *

Rey couldn't sleep, even though she knew that she should. She lay awake, staring at the ceiling, but sleep wouldn't find her. She decided that she was going to travel to the training room to read one of Master Luke's holocrons.

She wandered through the halls, staring in awe at the beautiful pictures depicting ancient battles and discoveries. She lingered a while at one of pictures of the Prodigal Knight Revan. It showed him as a Sith Lord, wielding a ruby-red lightsaber, fighting multiple Jedi foes. Rey couldn't help but notice that his mask was very similar to that of Kylo Ren's. Other Jedi legends were displayed, but as she neared closer to the training room, she saw something that rocked her to her core: a woman, alone, was holding a newborn babe surrounded by a strange, brilliant blue-green aura. Curious, she followed the wall, unknowingly being lead away from the direction of the training room. She watched more: the wedding of the babe, now grown but still surrounded by the aura, and a very young woman, both smiling brightly; the destruction of the Jedi Temple; the man with the aura killing many Jedi—he had crimson eyes; the man with the aura fighting a Jedi Knight; a figure cloaked in a black suit with a red lightsaber…still surrounded by the aura. Rey was now hooked on what she was seeing. The black figure with the aura battling a young man with a similar aura, though it was fainter. The black figure bringing the younger man before a figure cloaked in darkness. An epic battle between the two men with the auras. Then, the one with the greater aura lay dying, the younger one removing his mask. The mask revealed the face of the babe.

But Rey didn't stop there. She kept following the path, eager to see where it led. The younger man with the fainter but still bright aura stood before three spirits of the Force. The next scene revealed a young woman with a sad, tired face presenting a young child to the man. The next scene shows the man showing the child the power of the Force. The next showed the child, now older, sparring with the man with a blue lightsaber. More children arriving, though their images were not painted anywhere nearly as brightly and carefully as the first child and the man. Then it showed the child building a lightsaber, the man watching with a proud expression on his face.

Then it showed the man and the child, now a young man, standing near a woman in bed with a child in her arms—a child with an aura even brighter than the first child.

Rey frowned slightly and kept reading the story. The young man holding the hand of the brightly-shining little child, a faint smile playing on his lips. The shining man lifting the bright child in his arms, both of them laughing.

Then it showed the bright child watching a ship leave, an expression of both horror and fear. Rey gasped when she saw the facial features of the child. It was her.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Rey cried out in surprise and whipped around. It was Galen. He wasn't looking at her but at the pictures behind her. "Reading the past used to be a hobby of mine, before the New Order fell. There were similar paintings on the walls of the Jedi Temple of Coruscant. Of course, it wasn't the past when it was painted. It was the future," he murmured, his blue-green eyes scanning the images with deep interest. "How…what am I doing in this picture?" she demanded. "You were there, weren't you?" replied the former Jedi learner. Rey shook her head. "No—I mean, yes, I was there, but what am I doing in the picture?" she restated. "You're in the picture because you were there," he repeated, turning his gaze to her and cocking one dark eyebrow. "Fine," she said through gritted teeth, now feeling irritated, "what is the picture doing on this wall in the first Jedi temple ever made?"

"Obviously some ancient Jedi had a dream about you and decided to include you in the story," Galen said, as if it were obvious. "But…why would they dream about me? That man, _Luke_ ," she said, pointing at the man with the faint aura, "why was he there all the time? And who's the boy?"

" _I'm_ 'the boy,'" answered Galen, "and Luke's in there because _he's your father_."

Rey's knees buckled; she would've crashed to the floor had Galen not caught her. Her head swam. She thought she saw stars in the ceiling of the temple, but she thought that was impossible since they were indoors. Her fingers clawed at the man's white stormtrooper armor. "It can't be," she whispered over and over again. "It can't be, it can't be, it can't be…"

 _He told me he wiped most of the memories,_ Galen thought. _But I can't…how could he take that from her? He's her father. She's his daughter. How could he do that?_ He felt a torrent of anger rip through him. _How? I should've taken her…I should've taken her instead. At least she would've known the truth then._

Finally, when it seemed that the girl had recovered her wits, she ordered him to put her down. She took a few deep breaths before turning her gaze back to Galen. "That's not true! There's no way…it's not possible!" she protested, taking a step or two backwards, away from the former Jedi learner. "I'm sorry that you were left on Jakku. If I had known, I would've came back for you," he apologized. He looked genuinely upset. Rey shook her head fiercely. "No…no, I _remember_ my father. He was a soldier…he fought in the war with the Galactic Empire—"

"Yes, he did. Luke was one of the Rebellion's best soldiers, not to mention its best pilot. He was the one who destroyed the first Death Star and eventually caused the Sith Lord Darth Vader to turn on the Emperor and kill him, ending the reign of the Galactic Empire. He was a great warrior, and he still is—though perhaps not as great as he used to be. He's older, but also much wiser—yet Kylo Ren's betrayal may have weakened him."

Rey still couldn't believe it. Her mind raced with countless questions, incomprehensible questions. "Search your feelings, Rey. You know it's true," Galen whispered. The scavenger shook her head even more violently than before. "No. No! I don't believe it! It isn't true!" she screamed. She turned and ran through the tunnel-like halls, not knowing—or caring—where they took her.

Galen watched her bolt away, sighing. He turned back to the image of Luke holding the child Rey in his arms. "Look what you've done," he hissed, then started chuckling quietly. He then started looking where Rey left off. The next few images showed the ten to eleven years that young Rey spent in solitude. He watched with only partial interest, for he had nearly memorized every picture. It was the images _after_ that interested the former Jedi learner.

The girl was finding a lightsaber, causing her aura to glint even more brightly than before. Then it showed the girl locked in battle with a figure clad in black, with an aura just as great. The girl being trained the man with the fainter aura. The girl at the mercy a figure in dark without an aura…only for the next scene to show her being saved by a stormtrooper with a brilliant yellow blade. Galen frowned, his eyebrows nearly meeting. An epic battle between a force of four people—one with a green lightsaber, one with a yellow, and two with blue—and at least thirteen figures clad in black with red lightsabers. Then…

"No," he said quietly. Then he slammed his gloved palm onto the wall. "No!" he repeated, only louder. He backed away, disgust written all over his features. _It's not true…it's a lie, a trick of the Force or something._ He looked around at the other walls shooting in other directions, all with their own tales of the past, present, and future to tell. The former Jedi learner suddenly felt overwhelmed by the vastness of it all. Then he heard them, those sad and desperate little voices screaming at him. He took in a shuddering breath; it had been nearly a year since he'd last heard him.

 _"Well, well, well—if it isn't Skywalker's little pet."_

Galen whipped around to face the ghostly apparition of his old friend, Aldous. _"I always knew that if we were attacked, you'd somehow live. But that was because I thought that your 'father'_ _would abandon everyone else and come running to your aide. Guess I didn't know he had a new favorite,"_ the ghost teased. "Shut up," Galen snapped, "you're not real. You're fake. You're dead."

 _"Am I, Gally, or is that just what you want to believe—that we're fake and cannot touch you? Or that we're just silly projections your mind creates whenever you feel guilty? How…perfectly juvenile! You always believed only what you wanted to. You believed that Master Luke would be the father you never had, didn't you? And you believed that the girl would be like a sister to you? Yet how the tables have turned!"_ mocked the voice of his deceased friend. "I said shut up!" screamed the man in stormtrooper armor. But his mind's form of Aldous wasn't satisfied, not yet. _"You're a failure, Galen: a failure as a brother, a son, and a student. Where were you when we needed you most? When Master Luke needed you most? Away, away to rot in your own misery and guilt and anger! What would Master Luke say if he knew of the thoughts that were in your head during your exile? Or what about that time on Lothal, when those smugglers grabbed that one girl, what's-her-name?"_

"Leave me alone!" shouted Galen, thrusting out his hands towards the shadow of the young man. Sparks of blue electricity flew from his fingers, going through the image of Aldous and charring the painted wall behind it. Crying out in surprise, Galen pulled his hands back, cutting off the current. He stared at his gloved fingertips, as if they were about to shoot out lightning at any moment. After a few gasps of shock, he looked back up into the misty green eyes of his mind's idea of his friend. _"It's not fair! You got to live, and yet you're just like him! Why didn't_ I _get to live and become a Jedi? Why didn't_ I _get to live and fight against Ben? It isn't fair! You're just like him, you hear?_ You're just like him _you Sith scum!"_

Galen couldn't take it anymore. He turned and bolted towards the end of the tunnel, unknowingly following the wall that recorded the history of the Skywalker family.

* * *

Back in his own quarters, Luke Skywalker felt a disturbance in the Force. His eyes opened, dissolving his meditation. He was aware of a sudden rapping on his door, then the sound of someone turning the knob; he had forgotten to lock the door after Galen had left. He turned and faced a bedraggled Rey, her eyes dark and suspicious, her right hand closing around the hilt of Luke's old saber.

"What is it?" he asked, almost innocently, but he could already sense the girl's feelings. He sighed deeply, suddenly filled with shame and regret. "So Galen told you," he murmured. She pointed an accusatory finger with her free hand. "You…he said that…you're my father," she said through gritted teeth. She felt shocked, furious, and—most of all—betrayed. Luke stood and walked over to her. "After the Battle of Endor I…I felt alone. My father was dead, my sister had Han and I didn't want to get in the way, and both of my masters were dead as well. For about a year I made preparations to rebuild the Jedi Order. The first student I received was a small human boy named Galen Bridger. His father had been one of the founders of the Rebellion: Ezra Bridger, who had been the Padawan learner under a Jedi Knight. Galen's mother wanted her son to become a Jedi like his father, though his training was never completed due to his master's death. I accepted the boy due to his great potential as a Force user. After I learned of his mother's death…I became Galen's surrogate father, and I would've given him my name had his mother not been so adamant to have him live with the weight of his father's legacy on his shoulders. For a while—years, even—I wasn't alone. I had a son.

"But eventually even Galen wasn't enough. I wanted the companionship of someone around my age, sort of like the companionship I had with Leia and Han during the war. I guess I grew a little disillusioned, and I began to wander throughout the galaxy, neglecting my other students and my duties as their teacher. Galen stayed with me the whole time, encouraging me, trying to cheer me up whenever I was low. He was such a good boy…a good _friend_ , I should say. But when I met Jade…everything changed.

"She was so beautiful, both in body and in mind. Perhaps I was first attracted to her because she had no idea who I was or what I had done. And I liked it that way. I didn't want her to feel small and insignificant. It was against the laws of the old Order, but I didn't really care. It was selfish of me, I know, but I didn't care about that then, either. Jade just was…well, I don't know how to describe her. I already said that she was beautiful, but that's an understatement. There was some sort of brilliant light in her eyes that just intrigued me. When I was with her, everything else faded out of my mind: the school, my students, my duty as a Jedi Master, even Galen.

"When she learned who I was…I thought it was over, that the dream was over and it was time to wake up and remember what reality was. But she didn't want it to end, she told me. She told me that it didn't matter, that no one else would have to know, that I didn't have to be Luke Skywalker, Rebel hero, last Jedi Knight, Jedi Master, teacher of the New Order. I could just be Luke, a man who was falling deeply in love with Jade Sundancer.

"We married in secret. Now that I look back on it, it's almost funny. My father did the same thing when he was a Jedi Padawan with his own love. Galen was the only witness besides the minister. That was how it had to be. I wanted to live with her, I really did. I would've given up my place as Jedi Master, even—but both Jade and Galen advised against it. I still continued teaching my students, this time encouraging love, telling them that it was the key to conquering the dark side. Perhaps it was because I thought that it would make up for my sin, to make it seem as if it wasn't one—but now I think that I neglected my duties due the distraction of my loving wife and our newborn daughter, who we named Rey.

"Those were the happiest times of my life. I was the husband to the most wonderful woman in the galaxy. I was the father of a bright little girl and the surrogate father of the best son a man could ask for. Galen seemed more excited about you than even we did. He was fascinated with the chance to become a brother. That was before he adopted Ben as his brother in all but blood and name. He spent the most time with you once you grew older. You remember having a brother, don't you? Yes…that's what I thought. I couldn't have been happier. I don't think any of us could've.

"Then it all turned sour. When you were about seven, Ben turned to the dark side and killed most of the other students. I was off-planet with your mother. You were at the temple. You were going to be a student there. Even before I got Galen's message that he sent across the galaxy, I felt the deaths of so many…one after another. Jade was hysterical. So was I. As soon I could manage to steal a ship I returned to the Temple. It was terrible. I found no survivors…except for you, Rey. I found you under some rubble. You kept screaming at me, fighting against me, telling me that I couldn't leave Gally—that's what you called Galen. That I couldn't leave him behind to get killed. You don't know how long and hard I searched for him, Rey. All the while, I felt the anger boiling up inside of me, threatening to consume me. Anger at myself. _I_ failed to keep Ben from falling to the dark side. _I_ failed to prepare my students for such an attack. _I_ failed to keep my son and daughter safe. I couldn't even find Galen's body. I was forced to return without him.

"When I came home with you in my arms, your mother and I got into our first fight. She wanted us to go off to the other end of the galaxy and live in hiding, but I wouldn't have that. I knew that I was not capable of protecting anybody, _especially_ you and your mother. I told her that she needed to take you somewhere far away from us, somewhere you could be safe. At first she refused, saying that it wouldn't matter since you'd be able to remember everything. And that's when I realized what I had to do. I had to wipe your memories of us, Rey.

"Jade was the one who took you to Jakku. If anyone actually knew of your existence, Jakku would probably be one of the last places they'd look for you. She left you there. She was never to return, and she knew it.

"That's why we left you on Jakku, Rey. We left you there because we loved you and we wanted to protect you."

Rey closed her eyes, her hand falling from the hilt of her lightsaber. So it was true. Galen hadn't been lying. But then, she knew he hadn't been lying the moment he told her; deep down inside of her—even though she couldn't possibly explain how—she knew that what he had said was the truth. She let it all sink in. "Will they come back, now that I know?" she asked. Luke nodded. "They've probably already started, haven't they?"

She nodded, suddenly feeling very weary. She left Luke's quarters without uttering another word. She was very tired. She so desperately needed to sleep.

* * *

" _Finn! Finn—can you hear me?" she asks, stroking her friend's cheek. His eyes are open, his chest is heaving, but he doesn't respond. "Finn!" she cries again. A strong hand grips her shoulder. "We have to go," a voice says from above her. "No!" she screams, thrashing until the grip falters. She cradles her friend's head, glaring up into the sky. "Why?!" she demands, knowing that someone—or something—was to blame. "Why?!"_

 _"Give in to your hatred. Let it fuel you."_

 _"Peace is a lie. There is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me."_

 _"He's not gone. We can still save him!" protests a young man, hardly more than a boy, as both Rey and someone else tries to restrain him. "No! He's good! He's just upset, I know it! Lemme go! Lemme go! I can help him!" the boy continues to rave. Then he is free, running towards a collapsing building. Rey reaches for him, weakly claws at his jacket, but it is all for naught. "No! Come back!" she hollers at him—begs of him. He ignores or doesn't hear her. "I'm coming! I'm coming!" he screams, disappearing into the mouth of the dilapidating building. "No!" Rey continues to cry after him. She can't lose anymore friends. She's lost so many. Someone grabs her and lifts her, but she kicks and jerks against him, trying to get free. She has to go after him. "He's going to die with him!" she shrieked. Did they not understand? Did they not understand that they both were going to die? "Let me go!"_

 _"You have to convince him to leave, Rey. He's the only chance we've got to bring us back together."_

 _"I'm going to kill you!"_

Rey jolted awake. She wiped her face. It was wet, but it wasn't from perspiration. It was wet from tears. She had been crying in her sleep. Her nightmares were getting worse. _I don't understand_ , she fumed inwardly. _What's going to happen?_ She suddenly felt very afraid. Her friends were in danger. Her friends were going to die. She couldn't allow that. She wouldn't let them die. She swore on Han Solo's grave that she wouldn't let any of them die.

* * *

At last, it was time to land on the accursed planet. Petro gripped his blaster in anticipation. Half of the First Order's fleet was coming as backup, but the human bounty hunter was rather confident in his and his partner's abilities. The girl wasn't going to be a problem. The stormtrooper would probably just be a minor headache before they disabled him. The two rebels would be easy to dispatch—after all, they were only rebels, and Petro had killed many of them in the past three years he'd been employed under Norvvik the Cruel. His greatest concern was the wookie; now _there_ was a mighty warrior. As much as he'd love the bragging rights, it was decided that the Mirialan would take care of the mighty Chewbacca, being the more experienced of the two. And as for the Jedi…

Petro shook his head, expelling the slight trace of fear from his mind. The First Order had one very simple and direct warning: _Do not engage Luke Skywalker._ But the bounty hunter wasn't much of a believer when it came to the hocus-pocus magic of the "Jedi sorcerers." Guys with flashy swords—sure, they were real; Kylo Ren had a very big and intimidating flashy sword. Guys who could lift people and toss them around like rag dolls _without using their hands_ —eh, Petro wasn't buying it. Back when he was a slave to Fuhrer on Tatooine, he'd heard a few stories about a certain maniac named "Luke Skywalker" but never gave them much thought. After all, the legends of the Jedi clearly stated that they were against slavery and tried to free planets and people from unjust rulers; if there were still Jedi left in the galaxy, why didn't they try to help free Petro and his mother?

In a way, Petro was bitter towards any thought of the New Republic or the Jedi Order. They never helped Petro when he was beaten by a drunken Fuhrer for no reason. They never helped his mother when she was being raped by their brutal owner. Petro had to learn to help himself to survive. Petro had to learn the hard way that the good guys would never come to the rescue and the bad guys would always be the victor unless Petro himself was going to stop them.

Now having worked himself up, Petro rubbed at his scars furiously. He remembered the last time he saw his mother alive, right before she was pulled into Fuhrer's personal chambers. He remembered hearing their moans—then his mother's scream. He remembered beating against the door, trying in vain to force it open—only to be restrained by one of the guards. He had been too small and weak then to put up a proper fight, and was helpless as he was forced to listen to his mother's last cries of terror. He later learned Fuhrer had found out that he was Petro's father, and he hadn't been pleased with the woman for keeping such information a secret.

After his mother's death, Petro had been treated less like a slave and more like Fuhrer's heir. This had made Petro despise the mob boss all the more. When he'd heard rumors that a rival mobster from Coruscant was trying to find a way to stage an assassination, Petro had personally met with the mobster to discuss how it could be done. The mobster's name was Pacino, and he was an older human male of about sixty but nonetheless clever and strong. Petro had been able to supply the information in exchange for what the mobster deemed a small price: the boy's freedom. The assassination turned out to be a success, and Petro was freed. Pacino even went the extra mile and brought the lad with him back to Coruscant.

Petro became very loyal to Pacino, earning himself a spot in the mobster's gang family. Pacino, who had a strange sense of humor, gave the boy the surname "Varden," which meant "from the green hill." Petro grew to discover that he had a wide variety of skills: acting, pickpocketing, hacking into computers, piloting, shooting blasters, lying, and never squealing. For about four years, Petro was happy.

And then a certain Mirialan, a yellow one without any facial tattoos, arrived, bringing death with him. He killed Pacino and the rest of the mobster's family—not to mention anyone who got in his way. Petro had first met him when he tried to kill him; it had been like losing his mother all over again. But the Mirialan had been too skilled to let a silly little human boy end his life. However, instead of killing Petro, he offered him a job: be his right-hand man on his ship, _Sunrider_ , and get paid a small sum for each job. Petro had accepted without hesitation; regardless of personal scores to settle, a job was a job. Revenge could come later.

 _But sometimes,_ Petro realized, as the ship hovered above the surface of the planet's only island, _revenge can't come soon enough. Sometimes, you just have to wait. And wait. And wait._

* * *

A/N: So no Reylo. Sorry guys. Rey's a Skywalker. That's really all I have to say right now.


	10. Chapter Nine: The Confrontation

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it took me this long to update (and yes, a day is long in my book). HUGE shoutout to booklover457 and Nequam95 for reviewing my story! Thanks to everyone else who's either followed or favorited it. I was so worried about the last chapter, to actually have some one compliment it was unbelievable. Here's chapter nine!

* * *

Chapter Nine: The Confrontation

"Everyone! There's a ship attempting to land!"

Finn's eyes opened at the sound of Galen's voice ringing throughout the temple. He jumped out of his makeshift bed and grabbed his blaster. He was still fully clothed from head to toe, having guessed that something like this would happen, and wasted no time in bursting out of the cave-like room. "Get up get up get up!" the man in stormtrooper armor continued raving, beating on every door he came upon. Finn kind of thought that was odd for a second since there were only four others besides Luke but didn't really have time to process it. The former stormtrooper watched as Poe stumbled out of his own chambers, sleep still fading from his face. The pilot and Finn exchanged looks before running after Galen.

Rey's door flew open at the sound of Galen's shout. Unlike the two Resistance men, she was very alert, her lightsaber hilt in hand. Her bright eyes scanned Finn and Poe before turning to Galen, who was staring at her with those odd blue-green eyes of his. "Is it the First Order?" she demanded, tense. Galen shrugged. "Didn't see it. Sensed three beings on there, but no more. We've gotta get out of here. Whoever they are, they've probably already alerted the First Order," he replied, then bolted off to find his former master.

Rey heard a throaty growl behind her and turned. Chewbacca didn't seem very pleased to have been awakened from his slumber so soon. "Wrrrarruggh," he whined. "There's no way you're tired enough to sleep through the destruction of a Starkiller Base right now," Rey rebuked, "and we're all tired right now, so don't keep complaining." The wookie grumbled something else under his breath, to which Finn saw that Rey's eyes widened with shock. He tried to conceal his amusement as she smacked the furry arm of the mighty wookie warrior. "Don't you talk about _anyone_ like that! It's very rude!" she scolded.

"As much as I hate interrupting you punishing your dog here, I think we need to get back to the _Falcon_ ," Poe said, listening to the ground rumble as a large ship landed. _Whoever they are, they must be pretty desperate to risk landing up here with all the rocks_ , he mused. _And desperate people are usually dangerous people_.

They all fell silent as Luke rushed towards them, with Galen following right behind. He halted in front of them, concern clouding his blue-grey eyes. He unhooked his own lightsaber hilt and activated its emerald-green blade; Galen's own yellow blade was already activated, so Rey activated her blue one, not quite knowing what she should do. The Jedi Master turned his gaze to the two Resistance soldiers and their wookie companion. "We'll draw the fire, they'll be after us anyway. You three get to the ship and get ready to take off," he ordered. While Poe nodded and started towards the back exit of the temple, Finn stayed rooted to where he stood. "You want us to run from the fight while you three face all of the danger? Like cowards?" he asked, incredulous. In truth, he was only worried about Rey; she was the youngest, smallest, and most inexperienced of the Jedi. Galen seemed to sense this and flashed the former stormtrooper a cocky smirk. "Danger? There's no danger here. We're Jedi. We've got _farking lightsabers_. What do they have? Blasters? Pff. They won't stand a chance," the former Jedi learner assured him.

Poe turned back to Finn and motioned for him to come. The latter shook his head, giving his friend a meaningful look. Poe's face then grew animated as he motioned his friend over with even wilder gesticulations. Finn shook his head: left, middle, right, middle. Poe then his pointed at the ground, stamped his foot, and mouthed a few rude names at the former stormtrooper. Only then did Finn, sigh, roll his eyes, shoot one last worried glance at Rey, and finally march after the pilot, with Chewie at his heels.

Rey realized she had been giggling the entire time. Only when Luke—or Galen, she wasn't sure—tapped her on the shoulder did her mind return to reality and the dire situation at hand. Found herself following Luke with Galen behind her; the tunnel-like halls of the temple carved into the mountain were illuminated with greenish, bluish, and yellowish lights. When the entrance to the Temple of Anch-To was visible, they could discern two figure with blasters poised sneaking in the front, their humanoid bodies turning as they scanned the room. Luke stepped forward slightly from the entrance of the tunnel, though noiselessly as to not attract the attention of the two invaders.

Almost instantaneously, the smaller of the two figures turned its head in their direction. It saw Luke. It immediately shouted something at its companion as it fired its twin blasters. Luke blocked all four shots, redirecting them towards the shooter. The shoot dove face-first to the floor, but still managed to fire some more even as he slid across the floor of the temple. Luke blocked these, too, but Rey heard him mumble a curse under his breath; the two invaders were professional bounty hunters. By this time, the other bounty started shooting at the Jedi with his large blaster. Luke struggled to deflect these shots; after about five, he fell back to the floor. Rey and Galen decided to engage.

The first shooter, upon seeing the two other Jedi, shouted something else at his partner and did something to his blasters. Though Rey couldn't tell what he was doing, Galen frowned when he recognized it: he was setting his blasters to stun. _So they've come for Rey_ , he realized. Instinctively, he stepped in front of her—as if he were trying to shield her from the bounty hunter's vision—with his yellow lightsaber poised in front of him.

Petro frowned when he looked into the Jedi's eyes. _This one really doesn't give a fark if he kills us or not, not like the older one. In fact, he probably wants to kill us._ But what disturbed Petro the most was that he could sense that there was something different about these three Jedi; it reminded him of Kylo Ren's presence. There was something off about them, something…something that normal people didn't have.

At the same moment, Galen realized a similar thing about the bounty hunter. _This one's strong in the Force_. He then felt a tiny twinge of regret; it was always a shame to kill one with the potential to be a great Jedi. But it was either that or Rey's capture, and he wasn't about to let Skywalker's daughter fall into the clutches of Supreme Leader Snoke while he, Galen Bridger, had something to same about it—and he would say everything that needed to be said about it with his lightsaber, not with his words. The bounty hunter began firing his blasters consecutively, right after the other, hardly giving Galen a chance to block one before another followed right after it. He grinned, but there was no joy in it; in truth, this bounty hunter was one of the best marksman he had faced in a while.

Rey, seeing that Galen could handle the human bounty hunter on his own, she turned her attention to the one that was shooting at Luke. The Jedi Master obviously didn't want to kill the two invaders for some reason, which Rey could sort of relate to; she didn't like taking a life unless it was absolutely necessary. However, when she saw the yellow bounty hunter reach into his pack with his free hand—while shooting at her master with the other continuously—and pulled out some sort of explosive, she knew that she had to act regardless of the damage she may inflict on the bounty hunter. She thrust her left hand forward and watched with a hint of satisfaction as the assailant was flung into one of the walls. He slumped to the floor, though she could sense that he was still conscious, only stunned. Master Luke was able to stand, watching Rey intently on what she would decide to do next.

The girl reached out into the Force and jumped, higher than what any normal human would deem possible, and landed about a meter away from the fallen bounty hunter. The yellow humanoid, now panicked, started shooting wildly at her. She deflected each shot with ease; she didn't even give it much thought, only trusting the Force completely like her master had taught her. Then, when she saw that the bounty hunter's weapon had overheated, she lifted him up and pinned him against the wall. She held the blue blade of her lightsaber up to his face so that he could clearly see her features by the light of the blade. His green eyes were wide with fear. Rey then realized that she _wanted_ to kill this creature, even though she knew that it was not the Jedi way. Master Luke had always taught her to only kill when necessary, but she didn't really care. It scared her, this eagerness to kill the bounty hunter. _I won't let him hurt my friends_.

Petro Varden, even in the head of his own one-sided battle with the younger male Jedi, saw that his partner was in trouble. He scowled and he jumped backwards to get out of the way of the yellow lightsaber. _Kriffing nerf herder_ , he cursed inwardly, _what the fark is wrong with this sleemo?_ Sighing, he figured that he would have to save the treacherous Mirialan if he wanted to get off this wretched planet alive. First things first: how to deal with the angry young human male Jedi. Not really knowing what else he _could_ do, he threw one of his handy-dandy explosives. _That_ caught the Jedi's attention; he threw his hand out at the last second, and the explosive flew out of the temple's entrance. It only took him about three seconds to get rid of it, but three seconds was all Petro needed. He darted towards the girl Jedi and Norvvik and, not really planning ahead, grabbed the girl around her waist and flung her to the ground. Her lightsaber flew out of her hand, deactivating and bouncing several feet away from her. The girl tried to get up and face her new opponent, but Petro was ready for her. He started maliciously kicking her in the ribs repeatedly. The girl howled in pain and tried crawl away. Petro then decided that the fun was over and that he needed to disable her before her friends decided to help out; in a flash, he whipped out one of his twin blasters and shot the girl near the middle of her back. But the danger was far from over. He turned on his heels just in time to see a yellow blade swoop near his head. Petro did the only thing he could think of: he dove to the floor and proceeded to roll.

By this time, Norvvik had collected his wits and started to absorb what was going on around him. The older Jedi—the Mirialan assumed it was the infamous Luke Skywalker—was kneeling over the girl's body, who seemed to be unconscious. He then saw that his partner was trying in vain to escape the wrath of the younger male human. Norvvik sighed. As much as he would've loved to see Petro's corpse A.) he still needed the human's help to defeat the other two Jedi and B.) the fool had just saved his life. No matter how treacherous, deceitful, sly, clever, and wicked the Mirialan bounty hunter was, he was still bound by his honor. And when someone risks their own pitiful life to save your own, you have to do everything in your power to make it even. He pulled out his rifle blaster, set it to stun, aimed it at the Jedi, and pulled the trigger.

About half a millisecond later, Galen turned when he heard the sound of a blaster go off. The shots seemed to come at him in slow motion—no, not slow motion, but just _slow_. He easily deflected the shots and turned his attention back to the human. However, during the few precious seconds when Galen had been occupied, the bounty hunter had somehow managed to climb up one of the forty-plus feet columns and was grabbing the bottom of one of the ceiling's support beams with his fingertips, like he was planning to climb across the ceiling by his fingertips. _You've got to be kidding me_ , Galen thought.

Unbeknownst to him, Petro's gloves enabled his fingertips to stick to any surface; however, one wrong move and the human bounty hunter would go _kersplat_ on the floor. He was suspended from the temple's ceiling with his right hand, his left one holding a twin blaster. For about a hundredth of a second, Norvvik and Petro's eyes met; the Mirialan had repaid the human, and they wouldn't be rescuing each other anymore, but it was every man for himself. Petro then began firing his own weapon at the Jedi.

 _I am so farked right now_ , Galen thought as he tried to block shots from two different blasters from two different shooters from two different directions. So far, he had managed to keep himself unscathed during the attack, but, when he risked a glance at his former master caring Rey back into one of the tunnel-like halls, he knew that, unless he ended the fight right then and there, it wouldn't be long before they were overwhelmed. He knew what to do. He closed his eyes, yet he was somehow still able to deflect the shots—much to the bounty hunters' bewilderment. Galen had done this literally thousands of times in the past twelve years; he knew what he was doing. He reached into the Force, feeling its almost intoxicating presence. He opened his eyes. Somehow, someway, for even he wasn't quite sure how, he was able to sense Luke and Rey disappearing into the depths of the temple. He was able to sense the blind rage of the Mirialan bounty hunter and the odd sense of panic from the human one. He was even able to sense the anxiety of Finn, Poe, and Chewbacca as they reached the _Millennium Falcon_ at the bottom of the island. He could feel the life in all of them: the Jedi, the bounty hunters, the wookie, and the Resistance fighters. He could feel it in himself, too. He could also sense many, many lifeforms heading their way somewhere in the depths of space. Galen's concentration nearly broke as he realized just how far his reach was extended: he was sensing life in different systems all across the galaxy. He'd never been able to go this far before. He wasn't sure if anybody had been able to go this far.

He could feel a cavity below the floor where the Mirialan was standing. His connection to the other lifeforms in the galaxy was extinguished, though his concentration was still unbroken, and he held his hand out to the bounty hunter. As if on cue, the floor beneath him crumbled. The bounty hunter had enough time for one shriek before he was gone.

There was a disturbance in the Force.

Galen turned and nearly stumbled backwards. The human bounty hunter was still hanging from the ceiling, but Galen could sense the naked rage collecting inside that small body. The bounty hunter's grip either faltered or he purposeful let go, Galen wasn't sure. However, much to his surprise and extreme displeasure, the bounty hunter did not go _kersplat_ , which was expected of him; even the bounty hunter had a look of shock when he landed on his two feet, unharmed, still standing. His feelings betrayed him, however, and Galen instantaneously learned the reason behind the boy's wrath. "You wanted to kill him yourself." It wasn't a question but a stated fact; Galen knew he wasn't wrong. He could feel it.

Petro stared at the large hole that Norvvik had fallen into. He knew that the Mirialan was dead. He didn't know how he knew, but he was sure of it. Norvvik was dead. Thus did Norvvik the Cruel die on the planet Anch-To.

"You're very strong in the Force, you know," the Jedi said after several seconds of silence. Petro shook his head. "The Force isn't real," he answered indifferently, his hatred towards the Jedi still growing. "It's just a story that mothers tell their boys whenever they're upset and think that there's no good in the galaxy," he added after half a second's worth of thought. He saw the Jedi chuckle. "You know better than most that the Force is real. You've lived your whole life knowing about its existence. You've always been able to do…things. Things that nobody else can do, like climbing up huge, ancient columns and jumping down fifty feet and landing safely," the Jedi continued with a brief smirk. Petro's hatred seemed to only grow. "You're right, I wanted to kill him. Norvvik killed the man that freed me and avenged my mother, just as that man killed my partner's brother and Norvvik wanted revenge. And the cycle goes on, and on, and on," he spat, reaching for his other twin blaster.

The next thing Petro knew, he was lying flat on his back, stars in his eyes, gasping for breath. His blasters were gone, out of his hands and out of his mind. A yellow lightsaber was pointing at his face. "Don't do that again, kid," the Jedi warned. Petro then realized that whatever power the Jedi had, he couldn't defeat. This guy, whoever he was, was stronger than the bounty hunter and wasn't afraid of using his magic against him. "Why don't you just kill me already?!" he demanded suddenly. He was tired of playing these stupid games, where everyone else was always on top and he always ended up with the crumbs. He was sick of serving as a liar, thief, and murderer for different liars, thieves, and murderers. He just wanted it to be over with already.

"I don't want to kill you. I want to offer you my teaching."

Petro frowned; what the fark was this guy talking about? "Huh?" he uttered, unable to grasp what the Jedi meant.

Galen sighed. "I _said_ that I don't want to kill you, I want to _train_ you," he repeated. He could sense the boy's mind racing. "What sort of sick joke is this?!" the bounty hunter shouted suddenly. _This one's an oddity_ , Galen thought before he answered. "It's not a joke. I want to train you."

" _How_ is this not a joke?! I was hired to _capture_ you! You're my job!"

"Well…you've obviously failed," Galen pointed out, glancing at the hole where the other bounty hunter disappeared into, "and the First Order's not very forgiving. The fact that you've also ruined a potential surprise attack won't make matters any better. I'm not quite sure they'll need you anymore after we escape, and Ren won't be very happy to see that his obsessive quest will have to be post-pone yet _again._ " He watched as the young man's eyes fluttered around the room in thought. "I still don't get what you mean by 'train' me. I'm already trained. I'm a better shot than Norvvik ever was—and he was one of the most famous bounty hunters in the galaxy," the boy said.

"How old are you?"

"Why you wanna know?"

"Just because I want to."

"Well, in that case…twenty-four."

"Lie to me again and I'll cut your left hand off."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Take it easy…and why my left hand?"

"Because you're left-handed, obviously. Now, what is your _real_ age?"

"Seventeen."

Galen frowned; the boy was younger than he looked. "So, do you accept or not?" he asked.

Petro frowned; he still had very little idea of what this guy was talking about. "Well…since either you'd probably kill or someone else will if I don't…sure. But if I kill you all in your sleep, don't get mad," he finally said. The Jedi seemed satisfied, if not happy, at that response. He deactivated his lightsaber and held out his hand. "My name's Galen," he said. Petro took it and Galen helped him up. "I'm Petro, Petro Varden," he answered.

* * *

"Rey! Is she okay?" Finn demanded as Luke boarded the _Falcon_ , with Rey in his arms. The Jedi Master quickly nodded before placing her in one of the seats. "She's fine, only stunned. She'll wake up in a few more minutes, I'd say," he answered briskly. Poe frowned. "Where's the stormtrooper Jedi person?" he asked.

"Still up there. He's already killed one of them, but I can sense that the other one has stopped fighting. They both have," Luke answered, though he shared the others' confusion. Why hadn't Galen killed the other one already? "Well…guess that means we'll have to go up there and get him," Poe said unenthusiastically. "Or," he said more brightly, "we can just leave him there and—"

"Poe, not funny," Finn cut him off, shooting him a hard look. Poe shrugged and began pressing buttons and turning knobs—Finn's way of saying that the pilot was preparing for liftoff. "Okay, okay! It was just…just a thought. An option. Meaning we don't have to take the guy with us," Dameron muttered under his breath as the thrusters activated. The sudden jolt woke Rey. Her eyes narrowed and she frowned, trying to remember where she was. She looked to Master Luke for an answer. "You were stunned. Galen's still up there—"

"You mean _you left him_?! How _could_ you?!" the girl shouting, bolting out of her seat and storming over to Poe. "You better turn this ship around and go back for him _right this_ —"

"Rey, I get you have a thing for the guy or whatever, but we've already established the fact that the majority of us would rather not leave Mr. Bucket up there to take on the entire fleet of the First Order when they finally arrive," Poe interrupted, but obeyed her command all the same. The girl bristled at the pilot's words. "I do _not_ have a thing for him, thank you!" she snapped, clearly offended. Finn let out a sigh of relief at the genuine wrath in her words, which, unbeknownst to him, Master Luke Skywalker saw and recognized. Poe piloted the _Falcon_ until they were hovering about the entrance to the temple. Galen waved at them his arm on a figure's shoulder. "Hey—what's up with that?" asked Dameron, pointing.

Luke frowned. "I don't know. I think he means to bring one of the bounty hunters onboard with us," he said. Finn scowled; he didn't like the sound of that. "Hey! That's the one that shot me!" hollered Rey. Finn _really_ didn't like the sound of that.

"Should I let them on?" Poe asked, though sincerely this time. All of them, including Chewbacca (who had uttered his own opinion, but, to his frustration, Rey had decided not to translate for the others), turned to the Jedi Master for his answer. "Yes. Galen wouldn't spare this one's life unless he had a good reason to" was the answer.

All eyes turned to the former Jedi learned and the bounty hunter when they boarded. Some stared with accusing eyes, others with curious eyes, and one with understanding eyes as the reason dawned upon them. Galen gave them all his cocky smirk and patted the shoulder of the human bounty hunter—who they now realized was hardly more than a boy. "Friends," Galen said, "wookies, former masters, and stupid reckless pilot, may I present you the newest student to the new Jedi Order: Petro Varden!"

This was met by a load of incomprehensible chatter and growls and shrieks and protests.

* * *

A/N: And so I killed Norvvik. I actually didn't originally plan for the Mirialan (the same humanoid species as Luminara Unduli and Barriss Offee) to die in this story and that he'd be the main antagonist in some spin-off; well, that's not going to happen now. Petro's going to be trained as a Jedi! What kind of teenager doesn't? So now the pieces are set for my master plan. That plan may or may not involve an epic lightsaber battle between Rey and her Jedi allies against Kylo Ren and his Knights. Keep reading and find out!


	11. Chapter Ten: The Base

A/N: Well...today's been a day where've I done absolutely nothing except read and write fanfiction. I don't know if any of you can relate since you all seem to apparently have lives during the summer, but that's been my day in a nutshell. Found this interesting _Inception_ fanfic that's pretty well-written, which it's kind of hard to find anything interesting and well-written these days (I mean, we're reading bestsellers like _Allegiant_ for Starclan's sake! I bought a copy literally just so that I can burn it with my friends later. True story.) but...well, here's chapter ten!

* * *

Chapter Ten: The Base

Bellona Nightstar was bored.

It had been only about three days since the raid on the D'Qar base, and all Bellona had done was smoke a couple deathsticks and visit Gale in the Yavin 4 base hospital. The doctors had hoped that seeing familiar faces would somehow speed up the distraught man's recovery. All Bellona had been able to do was supply them with information they already knew: Gale was probably never going to get better. The death of his twin had rocked him to his core. He was unresponsive; he hadn't done so much as give anyone a glance when they tried to talk to him.

The only other thing the pilot could do was wait for contact from Finn, Poe, and whoever else was with them. Jed had told her that he saw two Jedi—not one but _two_ —help them escape. At first Bellona hadn't believed him; after all, no one's seen a real Jedi before, let alone two, she had thought. But then Commander Zeff Mareck had told her the same thing. Then the other Resistance survivors told her their own stories about a young girl and a young man wielding the laser swords called "lightsabers." It was still hard to believe such a sight had been witnessed by numerous people, but Bellona finally accepted the truth.

She walked over to one of the doctors who usually checked up on Gale. "How is he doing today?" she asked, though she already knew the answer: the same as always, didn't respond, didn't talk about anything other than Torq's "malala," eyes never strayed from his hands, never fell asleep, never ate, hardly allowed the doctors to spoon-feed him water. To her surprise, however, the doctor turned and gave her a relieved grin. "Today he actually asked for food," he reported with enthusiasm, "and he's asking for you."

"Really? He's recovering?"

"I guess…you'd better go see him now."

Bellona grinned; that put her in a good mood. Her best friend's twin brother's condition had really sucked the joy out of life; first Torq's death, then Gale's insanity. It was a little too much. But now…now that Gale was getting better, perhaps things would get better, too. Perhaps…

She saw Gale sitting upright in his bed as she approached him. "Hey, Gale," she greeted brightly. Was that a smile on his face? "Why, hello there, Bellona. Is it just me or has time stretched into an eternity? I think it has. Minutes aren't minutes anymore, they're hours. Hours aren't hours anymore, they're years. Years aren't years anymore, they're millenniums, and so forth. I'm pretty sure it's not just me. I _know_ that time ain't working right anymore and that we're all stuck in semi-eternity. You know what semi-eternity is, Bell?" he asked, suddenly turning to her. "When you die, time stops working. You float around in the heavens for eternity. I like to think of a human running around the surface of Tatooine until it meets where it started. It started at a huge, giant mountain of sandstone. Then he'd climb to the tippy top and scratch the surface of the top with his knife. Then he'd climb down and run around the planet again. When he finally scratched the mountain until it's nothing but a few grains of sand, then that's one day in eternity." Bellona felt her stomach drop to her heels. He _was_ insane. "But we're not in eternity yet, just semi-eternity. We're not there yet. We're almost there, almost. But…what are you looking at me like that for—why, I mean, not what, my bad. Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You don't look so good. Not since Torq…" her voice trailed off. Gale snorted and turned his head, glaring at three of the doctors checking up on a soldier who had barely survived a bad crash in his X-Wing. "Died? Ya, he's dead. He died trying to save me. Joke's on him, though. I'm worse than dead, worser than any dead guy because I know what it's like to die but I can't die yet. Oh, yes—I died! Part of me died a couple of eons ago, back before I lost track of time. Half of me—my better half, mind you—half of me died. Bam. Just like that. Now the other half, my half that's still alive right now, he's broken into millions of billions of trillions of little tiny itty-itty pieces that are scattered across the galaxy, waiting for someone to find them and put him back together so that he can be whole again," he ranted. Bellona felt for then just that awful feeling of disappointment in her gut. She was terrified for her friend's brother. "But it's okay right now. I'm good. I'm half-dead and half-broken, but I'll live. For now, anyway. Until some buckethead learns how to shoot properly and kills me," the young man continued.

"Gale, calm down. You're delirious."

"Sure, sure. That's what they want you to say. That's what they want me to hear. That's what they want everyone to think: that I'm delirious, that I'm insane, that I'm cuckoo, mad, loony, crazy, nuts, bolts—that I belong in one of them white rooms with no windows, so doped out that I'm drooling all over myself all day. Ya, I know what you think, and it ain't right. I'm a seer. I can see into the future. I see past live, present lives, future lives…impossible lives. I see it all. I can see you, about two years from now. You have a child, a male child, with no father. You were never married. You'll always be alone, with just you and that child. I don't know what you'll name him, but I know that you'll give him up to some other man to teach him something. I can't be really sure what it is, but I know that much. There are very few men you have ever loved and ever will love. The boy's father is one. The boy is one. The man you give the boy to is the last one. I don't the name of the father, the son, or the last man. I don't think that I'll get to learn their names. But I know it to be so. I just…I just _know_ it.

"The only sad part is that I can't see my future, so I don't know what to do in the present, so I don't know what to dwell upon from my past, so I don't know what to do in the future. It's kind of confusing, I know—but it's true. But I can see all lives from all times."

Bellona shook her head. "You're crazy, Gale. You're crazy for just thinking about stuff like that," she told him. Gale shook his head. "No, no, no…I'm not, I'll show you," he protested. The pilot turned away, not being able to bear the sight of him. "Bell, Bell, listen to me! A long time ago, there was this Jedi named Anakin Skywalker. He was very powerful, and the other Jedi thought that he was destined to destroy the Sith—they're like Kylo Ren and his Knights, you see. But the Jedi felt betrayed by them, didn't trust them, so he joined the _Sith_ instead and destroyed the _Jedi_ instead, you see what I mean? And then he was later defeated by his son, whose name was Luke Skywalker, mind you, and he did destroy the Sith Lord—that's the leader of the Sith. It's true, it's all true. You can ask Luke when he gets here!" he babbled. Nightstar felt disgusted; Gale was totally lost now, and there was no hope of bringing him back to reality.

"He _will_ come here, and then you'll start to doubt whether or not I'm crazy. Then, when you feel like they'll need it most, you'll bring all four of the Jedi to me, and I'll tell them what they'll have to do. At first they won't believe me, then the girl—Fey? Shay? Something like that, anyway—will have a dream about nearly the same thing, and then they'll take me more seriously, and then they'll do what they'll have to do."

"Gale, shut up."

"But one of them'll be your kid's father, you know. I don't know their names, but one of them'll be the daddy."

"Gale, _shut up_."

"But he'll die before the kid's born. He'll die slowly and painfully. You'll get to watch him, you know. Then you'll try saving him until you realize that all's lost, then you'll try killing the man who killed him, but the other man won't let you. He'll use one of them Jedi mind tricks on you so that you'll go to sleep, like how they pump that stuff in my arm to get me to feel all dizzy, and it'll be too late for revenge by the time you wake up. Then you'll start to cry—not necessarily because you're sad, but because you knew I was right and you always knew that I was right and that I'll always be right and that I'm right about everything else I told you."

"I said shut up!"

But Gale wasn't about to stop now that he had an audience, for the other doctor's curiosity had been itching and they made their way towards the soldier's bed. "But it's not just you I see—no, it's everybody! I can tell the futures of you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, and you, too, sir, you too," he screamed, spittle flying, pointing to each person he saw in turn. The last person he'd pointed to, a young man who'd just been visiting his wife's brother, Jed Keplin, frowned at the raving lunatic and hurried past, not knowing what he was talking about and not really wanting to know, either. Bellona, not able to take anymore of this, stormed out of the infirmary, unwarranted anger at her friend's condition swelling in her chest.

* * *

Petro Varden sat in the couch in front of space chess board, his hands folded on his lap, his dark grey eyes darting suspiciously at the people staring at him, deciding his fate. He hated every minute of it, not knowing what was going through their heads, not knowing when they'd decide that they were going to throw him out into the empty vacuum of space.

After witnessing the dark-skinned man's expression at Galen's words, he knew that moment may be approaching much sooner than he'd originally anticipated. "This guy's a _bounty hunter_ who was paid to capture Rey! We can't trust him!" he protested.

"And Galen," Petro added. All four humans and one humanoid turned and gave him the same dirty look. "What? I was hired to capture both of them, Rey and Galen, and kill the rest of you," he growled, giving each and every one of them a different glare. He didn't trust any of them. Even Galen. _Especially_ Galen. "See? There's no way we trust him. He's too dangerous," Poe agreed. The Jedi with the yellow lightsaber shook his head. "Finn was a stormtrooper, and yet he's one of the most valuable soldiers of the Resistance," he pointed out.

"That's different," Finn objected.

"It's not. It's the same exact thing," Galen argued.

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is."

"It's not."

"Yes…it _is_."

"No."

"Both of you just shut up!" Rey yelled at long last, tired of it all. She angrily turned to Luke. "Galen says that this boy—"

"Petro," Petro interjected.

"—is very strong in the Force, and that he should be trained. What are your feelings about this? What do you sense?" she finished, shooting a nasty look towards Petro's direction. Luke Skywalker frowned. "He's very strong, though not quite as strong as you or Galen, but I can't quite sense his future. It's very clouded," the Jedi Master said after a moment's thought. Petro snorted (which earned his glares from every other pair of eyes on the ship) when he heard those words. How can one _sense_ another's future? _This is a load of druk_ , he thought. A kriffing farkload of druk, to be more specific.

"At least Finn proved himself to be a friend by saving my life, then completing my mission," Poe said after a few moments of awkward silence, "whereas this one—"

"Petro," interjected Petro.

"—is only here because Galen brought him here," Poe finished, shooting the boy a nasty look.

"Yes, I brought him here, and you all need to respect my decision," the former Jedi learner growled, shooting dark glances at everyone who seemed to have an expression he didn't like. Luke decided that he would have to put his input in, otherwise the children (young adults, he corrected himself) would start ripping each other apart. "Galen's right. He chose to bring this boy—"

"Petro. My name's Petro. Why do you people keep forgetting it? Do you guys have severe short-term memory loss or something? Sheesh! How would _you_ like it if everybody just went around saying, 'Hey, you, c'mere!' all the time? It's degrading. Kriffing idiots!" interjected Petro.

"— _Petro_ ," Luke continued, giving the bounty hunter the death glare, "to train him, and the boy—Petro—will be his responsibility. He will do as he wishes with Petro, and will complete his plan unless he chooses that it is best to do otherwise. However, if this _boy_ decides that he will turn against us, I will personally see to it that his very short life will end abruptly and as painfully as possible."

"Really? Get in line, old man," Poe commented dryly, shooting Petro another one of his dirty looks. Petro, however, turned his gaze to Galen, as if to say _Well, you brought me here, so what's the plan?_ Galen just shrugged, as if to answer _I'm still working on it._ Petro frowned and covered his face with his grimy, now-gloveless hands. _I'm so, so screwed_ , he thought bitterly. Every other being in the ship was thinking more or less the same thing.

* * *

As soon as _Vader's Shadow_ exited lightspeed, Kylo Ren sensed that something was off. Luke's presence alone should've been enough for the dark warrior to sense, even though they were outside of Anch-To's orbit, and yet he felt nothing. He turned to one of his Knights, Kento, the one he deemed his second in command. "Something's not right," his metallic voice rasped. Kento nodded, and Kylo Ren imagined the Knight scowling from behind his silver mask. "There should be _three_ presences, and yet I feel nothing, Master," he said. Kento had always been Ren's favorite Knight, for he chose not to have his voice amplified by a robotic mask to mimic his master, unlike the other Knights, and he was always calm—even when the dark warrior himself unleashed his anger, Kento stayed cool. Kento had a tenor voice that sounded like many other human male voices; if one heard it, they were opt to forget it within minutes of hearing it. For some reason, Kylo Ren liked his voice. Perhaps it was because it drew attention away from his servant Knight and focused it on Ren himself.

"Do you think that the bounty hunters failed, Master?" Kento continued.

A pause.

"Yes."

Ren's fears were affirmed when they saw the Tongruta prostitute running towards the First Order's ships once they landed, waving her red arms and screaming at them. Ren was the first one to reach her. "What happened? Where are the bounty hunters? Where are the Jedi?" he asked. His anger was out of control; he reached into the Force and clenched his hand. The Tongruta female started to gag, clawing at her throat. "They…they…the Jedi…the young…he kill…killed Norvvik…took…took the…the boy…" she gasped, staring at the expressionless face of Ren's mask for some hint of mercy, something that would tell her that this man—no, this _creature_ —would spare her life. After all, it wasn't _her_ fault the job turned sour! _She_ hadn't been part of the mission! To her relief, the invisible force on her throat was released, and she fell to the rocky ground, panting.

Kylo Ren, disgusted at the form of the panting slut, turned to Kento. "She's not lying," his Knight informed him, his tongue clicking at the top of the roof of his mouth while articulating carefully. Kento wasn't much when it came to physically bending the Force to his will, such as telekinesis or shooting lightning from his fingertips, but he was a pure genius when it came to infiltrating one's mind and slipping past even fellow Force-users mental defenses; the master of the Knights of Ren didn't even need to check the whore's mind for himself. He turned his back on the panting female. "Deal with this," he ordered, marching back towards the remains of the First Order's fleet, which only consisted of a couple hundred TIE Fighters, about half a dozen Star Destroyers, and a few other miscellaneous ships—all of which was due to the destruction of the First Order's main base, the Starkiller Base.

Kento grinned wickedly from behind his mask. He took out his lightsaber, activated its pale red blade, and twirled it expertly in his gloved hands. The Tongruta slut had enough time for one scream before the Knight struck. Her head toppled to the ground beside her kneeling body, a look of horror and surprise stamped on her face.

* * *

" _Uncle, prepare to meet your fate!" screams Kylo Ren in his real voice—Ben's voice. He darts towards Luke, his crossword lightsaber activated, raising the crimson blade above his head. Luke's lightsaber is gone, lost. He is defenseless. He closes his eye, knowing that it is his time, that he will become one with the Force. But, moments before the blade crashes down, someone else jumps out in front of the Jedi Master, screaming "No!" at the top of his lungs. Ben then gives a cry of anger and redirects his strike at the last moment. But his momentum is too much, and he cannot stop himself from delivering a blow to the figure's chest. The figure cries out and crumples to the floor, screaming in agony. Ben drops his own saber, the blade deactivating as it hit the floor, and cradles the figure's head in his arms. "Forgive me, I did not mean it," he mutters, stroking the face that is distorted by the shadows so the Luke cannot see the features. "I did not mean it," the dark warrior repeats. Ben then looks up at Luke. But then Luke realizes that his nephew is looking beyond him, not at him. "I did not mean it, brother!" he shouts—no,_ pleads _with whoever he sees. "I never meant to hurt you! Forgive me!_ Please, _forgive me!"_

Luke snapped out of his meditation with a start. He felt himself shudder; that one had been horrible. Recently, he'd been having more and more of these dark visions of his nephew. He felt his stomach sink at the thought of who that "brother" may be. _He will kill Galen_ , he realized.

The Jedi Master scanned his surroundings. Poe was trying his best to learn a little Shyriiwook from Chewbacca; the wookie would point at an object and say it in his own tongue, and the pilot would try to remember it to the best of his ability. Finn and Rey were chatting softly to each other, and Luke could see that their hands were touching—and that his apprentice was blushing softly. Galen was meditating—much like Luke had been doing only moments before—but, unlike his former master, he was disassembling and reassembling his lightsaber with telekinesis during his meditation. Petro, the boy bounty hunter, was frowning slightly while staring at the spectacle before him, as if he were in deep thought.

"You're not afraid, are you?" he asked softly, so that his words would not reach the ears of the others.

Petro flinched at the sound of the Jedi's voice— _Now what does he want_ now _?!_ —but then collected his emotions so that his outward appearance made him seem uninterested—almost bored, even—as he turned to face the speaker. "I don't know what you mean," he replied casually, stretching in the chair. "I mean that you're not afraid of us killing you," Luke restated.

The boy's thoughtful frown returned. "I don't know what you mean," he admitted after several moments' worth of thought. "Normally, someone whose partner has just been killed and who has been kidnapped by the enemy would be in fear for their lives. You, however, don't really seem to give a damn whether or not you live or die," Luke explained. Petro shrugged. "Eh, I'm gonna die someday anyway, so it doesn't really matter to me," he snorted.

"But then you'd miss out on the wonders of life. You wouldn't be able to grow up, have a wife, start a family, and live out your days."

"Sounds…perfectly lame. Terrible, even," Petro commented. "A family's supposed to be one of the many joys a man gets to have during his lifetime. However, after he finally commits himself to it, it gets to be a bother. The family duties consume his every spare moment and drop of energy. The woman's always crying about something, the kids're always whining about something, the in-laws are a horror, your own family's trying to visit you all the time—and then you have to have a _job_ to _support_ it all! It's sick! I don't get it. I don't get how anyone can stand it."

"Most people enjoy it. I, for one, had a family life once and it was all I lived for."

"Pft, you think that makes me want it anymore?! That just makes it even _less_ appealing!" guffawed Petro, earning him glances from the other passengers on the ship. "I never had a family. I had a mom, and a bad one at that. My dad was our owner. He beat the living druk out of me and her. That's why she's dead. He beat her to death. Then I had a surrogate family for a while, but they were more of the mob type, until they got killed, and then I had Norvvik—and the only reasons why I accepted is because he would've killed me if I hadn't and I wanted to kill him later. See? No family. And I turned out _fine_ , honestly." The lad said it in such a way that the Jedi couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not. "So if I just took out my lightsaber and decided to slash your head off, you wouldn't be scared in the slightest?" he asked.

"No."

"Because you don't care about surviving."

"No, because you're a Jedi, and a Jedi'd never even think about wanting to kill an unarmed person that's not doing anything wrong for no reason," answered Petro smartly. Luke smiled and started to laugh. He laughed even harder when he saw the look of naked surprise on the teenager's face. "What?" he asked in between chuckles. "It's just…it's just that I've never really seen anyone laugh like that before," Petro explained.

"Huh?"

"Whenever people laughed, their smiles never reach their eyes. That means that they're trying to be happy but they're failing terribly. I've been happy like that before, but my mom never smiled, my dad only smiled when he was kriffing some woman, my mob family was all about seriousness and druk, and Norvvik…well, I wanted to kill him for a reason, y'know. I've never really seen anyone who's genuinely happy laugh like that, like they weren't even trying."

Luke stopped laughing. What the boy had just told him was…depressing. "Where'd you grow up?" he asked, hoping that the boy wouldn't grow suspicious and close off.

To his surprise, Petro answered him—though he couldn't really tell if he was being honest or not, since the boy had displayed a great talent for acting. "Tatooine."

"Really? Tatooine? That was my homeplanet, you know."

"And I bet you hated every moment living there and couldn't wait for the day you left."

"I left because my aunt and uncle were killed and I wanted to become a Jedi, like my father before me."

"Really? I left because my owner had been murdered and the guy who murdered him wanted to hire me for some of his…more _minor_ jobs." Luke didn't buy that last bit about them being "minor" jobs; the boy was obviously too gifted to be limited to the smaller stuff—not to mention he could unconsciously reach into the Force for some of the more physical aspects of life. Like being able to fall from fifty-plus feet up in the air. Or being able to leap ten feet in the air with ease. Or being able to sprint fast enough to keep up with a podracer.

"Exiting lightspeed!" shouted Poe suddenly. Rey and Finn let go of each other's hands and stood up, as if pretending that nothing had happened. Galen's eyes popped open just as he reassembled his odd lightsaber for the thirtieth time. Petro and Luke exchanged looks. Then the Jedi Master shrugged, and both rose to stand by the others—though the bounty hunter slid towards the back, staying well away from the others due to their mistrust of him.

Then they exited lightspeed. The occupants witnessed the moon Yavin 4, the main Resistance base.

* * *

"General Organa, a ship is attempting an unsanctioned landing—but it looks to be a Corellian cargo freighter," a young woman reported, pointing to the screen she was sitting in front of. Leia frowned, not wanting a false hope to build up in her; perhaps it was a different Corellian cargo freighter, for there were so, so many of them spread across the galaxy—

Then she felt it in her gut. She knew it. _Luke_ , she mouthed his name.

He was here.

She hadn't felt him for over ten years, ever since Ben…

But he was here now.

He could help her son.

 _He was here_.

* * *

Jed Keplin was the first person to meet them when they landed. Poe saw him first. "Jed!" he hollered, waving his hand in greeting. The two rushed towards each other and grappled the other into a bear hug, clapping the other's shoulder. "How's the leg?" the pilot asked, grinning. "Well…still got it, so I guess it's fine," the mechanic answered.

"You know I have to call you 'Peg-Leg' now, right?"

"Uh…no, you don't."

"Yes, you do."

"No…you don't. Really."

"Yes, I do—"

"Are you going to introduce us, Poe, are you just going to keep arguing with your boyfriend?" Galen asked roughly, interrupting them. The pilot gave a forced laugh. "Guys, this is Jed, my brother from another mother and another system, and Jed, this is Rey, Jedi Master Knight Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca the wookie, and uh…uh, Galen—he's not really a buckethead, he just dresses like one, and…well, uh…I honestly forgot this kid's name," he introduced, pointing to each in turn. Petro frowned. "The name's Petro, Petro Varden," he mumbled, though not to anyone in particular. Jed flashed each of them his friendly grin, and he gave Finn a quick and haughty salute. "Nice to see you've come back home, Boss," he said.

Finn smiled. "Yep, it sure is good to be back," he agreed.

Jed led them to the headquarters, while he, Poe, and Finn pointed at everything and explained what it was. "That, _that's_ the ship that nearly blew us up during the Kashyyyk raid," Finn said, pointing at a large freighter. Jed laughed in recollection. "Ya, stupid faulty hyperdrive," he chuckled.

"And that's Piggy's X-Wing," Poe pointed, "he jumped out of it and landed on a TIE-Fighter, somehow managed to break into the cockpit, took control of it, and turned it against the First Order's squad. If he hadn't done that, it could've turned really bad for the worst." Finn sighed and shook his head at that last comment. "Never saw him again. Good kid. Could've been a great soldier," he said. After that last story, the three Resistance fighters stopped talking, clearly depressed by their comrade's fate.

General Leia Organa was there, ready to meet them in front of HQ. Her eyes lit up when she saw Rey. She walked over to the young woman and embraced her. When they finally pulled apart, Rey saw tears glistening in the general's eyes; to Rey, Leia was like a mother to her, and to Leia, Rey was like a daughter to her. But she quickly stepped out of the way so that the general could see her brother.

Luke and Leia walked towards each other, stopping about a foot away. Then Leia murmured his name and Luke embraced her, the former bursting into tears. Poe and Jed politely looked away, while Galen stood awkwardly behind them, and Petro fiddled with one of his twin blasters, but Finn and Rey watched together as the twins reunited. "It's been so long, Luke, it's been so long!" whispered the general, neither still letting go of the other. "I know, I know," the Jedi replied. When they finally parted, they stared at each other, not saying anything. Then…

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry," Luke said, finally dropping his gaze to his Jedi robes. Leia nodded sadly. "I know you are. Han's gone now. But there's still hope for Ben…" her voice trailed off as her eyes fluttered to the figure standing behind Luke. Her jaw dropped slightly, Rey and Finn noticed, but it quickly clamped shut again. "Galen," she simply said. He nodded at her. "Leia," he replied in an equally formal tone. She stepped forward towards him, reached out her hand, then thought better of it and took it back. "I see you've been busy lately," she commented, her eyes studying his stormtrooper armor (which had attracted several odd looks from other rebels, and may have attributed to the crowd that was swelling near the group—though this was probably mostly due to the presence of the legendary _Luke Skywalker_ on Yavin 4). He shrugged. "I think we've all been a bit busy: creating armies, hiding from the galaxy on lost planets, being abandoned on desert planets with no memory other than a name, being trained as a stormtrooper, becoming a pilot, and then there's me infiltrating different branches of the First Order trying to find Snoke," he said casually. While Rey and the others—even Luke—seemed shocked by the disrespectful tone of his voice, Leia smiled, as if she were expecting a reaction like that. "There he is," she said, "there's the Galen I always knew."

"Master Luke apologized for his incompetence," the young man continued in his same tone, "but, in truth, it is I who should be apologizing. I was the closest to him. I failed…it's my fault." The general shook her head. "There was always too much Vader in him, but I should've pushed him away. I should've worked harder with Han—"

"Please don't bring him up," Galen snarled curtly. Then, when seeing Leia's hurt expression, he started again in a softer tone. "I'm sorry, Leia. It's just…it's just that Han's what drove him away in the first place. If Han had…no, it's my fault, Leia, and no one else is to blame. I was his brother. Now he's dead."

Leia seemed to know what he meant, but still shook her head. "Galen, there's still good in him," she protested. She even went as far as to grip the former Jedi learner's forearm, which caused him to flinch visibly. "I know that there's still good in him," she insisted.

He shook his head and placed his gloved hand over the general's. "No," he told her softly, "whatever little good that remained in Kylo Ren died with Han Solo. Ben cannot be brought back to the land of the living. He's gone. The only thing left is Vader's heir, and I have to stop him. You know this, better than most. You know that he can't be brought back. There will be no redemption." At these words, gasps rippled through the crowd of rebels—which caused Rey, Finn, Poe, Chewbacca, and Jed to give shoot ugly glares at them, as if to say _Shut up because one of us is a Jedi and will not hesitate to demonstrate the skills she learned._

"Galen's right, Leia. Ben has no chance at redemption. What turned Vader back to the light drove his grandson to the dark. If we meet him, we'll have to destroy the monster we created," he said. Rey couldn't believe what she was hearing. _How in the blazes can they say that to her like that?_ she wondered. Leia sighed. "Let's talk about this inside," she said, motioning for them to follow.

* * *

A/N: I really enjoyed writing this chapter for some reason. Maybe it was because I named Kylo Ren's second-in-command, Kento, after Galen Marek's father. Golly, but I'm just too obsessed with making references to the EU, ain't I? The truth is that I _absolutely love_ writing scenes when characters just keep arguing back and forth for silly reasons. I hope (hahaha my name's Hope and I just used it in a sentence hahaha _but it's not really funny, mind you_ ) that I was able to present Galen and Leia's strange and twisted relationship just right, since Galen obviously still harbors some hate for Ben's neglecting parents whereas Leia seems to think of him as a son. I hope (hahaha used it again hahaha) that I'm not overdoing it with the Jedi visions and dreams and stuff, but it's pretty essential for the plot. Well, I'm planning on major lightsaber battles for the next chapter, but I'm not making any promises since I'd probably break them and then you'd all hate me for killing off characters who haven't developed all the way yet _and_ breaking promises. Honestly, I don't know if any of you actually _do_ hate me for killing off characters who haven't fully developed yet, but I hate myself for doing it, so some of you probably do, too.

And now I'm filling this a/n with a bunch of unrelated fluff so I need to stop. Also, if any plot elements seem similar to other _Star Wars_ fanfics _please_ tell me because I'd hate for someone to think that I'm stealing their idea. To be honest, I've only even finished one SW fanfic before, slightly because the one I read was short, but also because I have neither the time nor the patience to finish something unless it immediately grabs my attention.

Until next time.


	12. Chapter Eleven: Some Conversations

A/N: Eh...I didn't really enjoy writing this chapter. It took me a little while to write it, which is mostly my fault. Mostly, anyway. The blame also lies with some very good Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Avengers crossovers. I don't know how **LostHeroGuide** and **100th** does it, but keep it up, fellas (I have no idea if you'll actually read this but it seems right saying so anyway). You guys should check those stories out. They're pretty (very) good. Anyways, here's chapter eleven!

* * *

Chapter Eleven: Some Conversations

"Master, the three Jedi and their companions managed to escape. One of the bounty hunters is dead, and the other seems to have joined them," Kylo Ren reported to the hologram of Supreme Leader Snoke. His mask was still on, and he was kneeling before the hologram in respect.

The hologram frowned. "Then they've already returned to the Resistance…with _Skywalker_ ," he hissed. A normal being would tremble under the great glare of even Snoke's hologram, but Kylo Ren was no ordinary being. He had killed his own father to free himself from the pull of the light. Few would have the nerve to even think of such an action. Snoke growled in anger and pointed at his servant. "You have failed me for the last time, Kylo Ren," he spat, "I will deal with these…Jedi…myself." He turned his back on a protesting Ren. "But Master—my Knights and I will _crush_ them! The girl's training is far from complete, Skywalker is an old fool, and Bridger is insane— _insane_ , I tell you!" he hollered. Snoke looked at the dark warrior over his shoulder, a look of disgust on the hologram's face. Kylo Ren struggled to find the words. "When I fought him last…you don't know…you didn't sense…he's _broken_. The battle that I fought is raging inside of him—stronger than it was in me! The little that remains of the light's hold on him is gripping him fiercely, choking him—and then the dark inside on him is growing. If I fight him—and _only_ if _I_ fight him—he'll turn completely. We can use him for whatever purpose we wish, and then we'll destroy him," he managed, his robotic voice ringing.

Snoke frowned. "Do _not_ engage Skywalker. He is far too powerful and skilled for you and your Knights to defeat. I will kill him myself. But the girl and Bridger…I leave it to _you_ and _you alone_ to defeat the boy. The girl should be overwhelmed by your Knights, but the majority will be used as a distraction against Skywalker until you have the others. Then Skywalker will no doubt stage a rescue for them. Bring them here. I will be ready to end the despicable Order once and for all!" he raged. Kylo Ren dipped his head. "It shall be done, my master," he answered dutifully.

* * *

"BB-8!" Rey exclaimed as she saw the white and orange droid rolling around the war room. The BB unit beeped with excitement and rolled towards her in a hurry, bumping into her leg. The girl dropped to one knee and started chatting with the droid, eagerly catching up with the going-ons around base. The droid then grew even more excited when he saw Poe Dameron, Finn, and Chewbacca. He chirped, beeped, and whirled happily and nudged each one in return. However, upon seeing Galen's stormtrooper armor, he grew afraid and hid behind Poe's leg, though he occasionally peaked at the man curiously whenever he thought the former Jedi wasn't looking—though Galen was perfectly aware of all the suspicious glances he was attracting, he also knew these paled in comparison to the looks of awe Luke was receiving from the rebels.

Luke didn't really notice all of the strange stares of awe, wonder, respect, and hope he was attracting. Rey received similar stares, and even Finn and Poe were given looks of respect and adoration.

However, Commander Zeff Mareck took it upon himself to point a blaster at Galen's head. "Who in the bloody blazes are you?" he spat. Galen didn't even flinch. "The guy who is about to cut your head off unless you quit pointing it at mine," he snapped in response. Mareck didn't even blink. "Empty threats don't scare me, wizard," he scoffed. General Organa decided that it was her duty to intervene. "Commander Mareck, he is not an enemy," she told him. Mareck still kept his blaster trained on Galen.

"Commander, lower your weapon. That's an order."

Mareck snarled and lowered his blaster, still glaring heatedly at Galen, who glared back with equal intensity. The general stepped between them and raised her voice, addressing the entire war room. "Generals, commanders, squad leaders, and other fellow members of the Resistance," she began. "Today is a day of great triumph. Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, and Chewbacca have returned to the Resistance, bringing with them Jedi Knight Galen Bridger and Jedi Master Luke Skywalker!" she finished with a hint of a smile on her face.

Neither Galen nor Petro said anything about the former never completing his training and the latter not being mentioned at all, mainly because neither really cared, thought it relevant, and wanted to correct General Leia Organa of the Resistance.

The general's speech was met by applause and whoops for joy. All eyes were glued to the two Jedi, but mostly to Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. Petro managed to slink to the back to as to attract the least amount of attention to himself as possible, but Galen could not, having so many eyes trained on him—though the attention did cause him to grow very uncomfortable, and it took all of his willpower to keep himself from both fidgeting and screaming at the top of his lungs. Admiral Ackbar, a legend throughout the galaxy, turned his attention back to the general. "Will Master Skywalker call upon his other students scattered across the galaxy to create an army of Jedi?" he asked strategically, getting straight to the point. Leia opened her mouth to answer but Luke beat her to it. "The time is not right to reconstruct the Order," he said quickly. Rey couldn't help but notice that Galen rolled his eyes at that statement; apparently, the girl and the young man had similar opinions about the Jedi Master's decision to postpone calling his other students into battle. _He may be wiser than us,_ she thought, _but he is still afraid._

Luke's statement, of course, started a minor argument between two groups of ranking officials. They either respected the Jedi's decision or tried to convince the Jedi Master to do otherwise. General Leia immediately tried to put an end to the squabble but failed, for then the lower-ranking rebels started to shout out their own opinions as well. Even Finn and Poe joined in, trying to support Luke's decision.

Finally, Galen grew tired of the pointless chatter. "Enough!" he shouted with such volume and such ferocity that all the others fell silent. Luke Skywalker felt unease rising up in him at the sound of his former student's voice; it had been influenced by the Force. All eyes turned to the man in the stormtrooper armor. He paced back and forth, glaring at everyone his blue-green eyes happened to land on. "I _don't care_ what your opinions are," he spat, "and I _don't care_ about all your silly little politics and battle scenarios. This is a Jedi affair, and none of you have _any_ voice in it, not a statement, not a sentence, not a word, not even a squeak!" His eyes stopped at a young woman who was glaring at him coldly with dark brown eyes. "You should all be more concerned with the fact that the First Order will most likely attack here next, whether or not their fleet is strong enough to survive your defense. You should keep your priorities straight," he added, pure venom tracing his voice. The woman visibly flinched. Satisfied, he turned away. "Back to you, General. Sorry that you were so _rudely_ interrupted, but I think I fixed that," he said cheekily.

General Organa frowned slightly as the former Jedi learner stormed out of the room, not bothering to use the keypads to unlock it but just waved his hand instead. Petro quickly rushed after him, seizing the moment for a chance to escape this strange place.

The rebels started making preparations for an attack from the First Order.

* * *

Once outside of the room, Galen Bridger breathed a sigh of relief. It'd felt so stuffy in there, with all of those… _laserbrains_ crowding up the place with their idiotic ideals. He had forgotten how much he'd hated politics; he wasn't very pleased with being reminded in such a manner.

He sensed the presence behind him. "I guess you hated it just as much as I did," he said, only half-jokingly. "Eh, I was credited with being Nameless Guy #2, so…it's whatever," Petro Varden replied, shrugging. Galen smirked, and the bounty hunter heard a _hmph_ , which he supposed was some form of laughter. "Don't get too upset. At least she didn't make you seem like you're actually important," he replied.

"Wait, so you're not a Jedi?"

"I never ascended to the rank of Knight."

"Oh…what're Knights?"

"Knights were one of the branches of the Jedi Order a Padawan leaner joined after they completed their training."

"Oh…" Petro clearly still didn't have the slightest clue what Galen was talking about. The man in the stormtrooper gave the boy an odd look. "A Padawan is like an apprentice. The Jedi Order is the big group the Jedi were in before the Empire arose," he explained, his tone softening. Petro nodded, understanding this more than the others. "So you're an apprentice," he commented. Galen shook his head, saying "No, not anymore."

"So you quit?"

"No, more like the master quit on me."

"Ah." Petro understood what that meant. He'd seen many cases like that, where another young slave much like himself never got to learn everything they were supposed to because their master either was sold or killed for displeasing Fuhrer or other mobsters. "So what happened to him?" he asked, now interested in what the former Jedi learner had to say. Galen's brow furrowed, and he looked away from the younger man. "Well, it's complicated. You see, the school where we lived got raided by Kylo Ren and the Knights of—his own bad Jedi servants, and most of the other students died. Then my master got cold feet and all oh-it's-my-fault-and-now-I-get-to-go-sulk and ran away to some lost planet. No one could find him for around ten years. That's why I never became a Knight," he explained. The bounty hunter nodded. "You think it was wrong of him to leave," he said. It wasn't a question, merely a fact he was stating.

"It wasn't his fault. He didn't even try talking to me about it before he left. He didn't even attempt to find me."

"Oh." Petro decided not to ask why the master of the next generation of Jedi would want to personally seek out one of all of his remaining students to discuss his decisions. He fiddled with one of his twin blasters before asking his next question. "So why are you dressed up like a stormtrooper?"

Instead of answering, Galen started laughing, which was slightly more than the simple _hmph_ he'd uttered earlier. It was a full-on laugh, the kind of laugh that one had whenever they didn't laugh often and yet used to…and still longed to. It wasn't one of those fake or forced laughs that one kept up excessively, but it lasted just as long as it naturally could, and stopped when it was natural to stop. "It's a long, long, _long_ , boring story," he chuckled. He started laughing again when he saw the look on Petro's face. "All righty, then. I guess you've got time."

He started speaking rapidly, fast enough so that he received some odd looks from some of the other rebels—though not any odder than he was already attracting due to his outfit, outbursts, and lightsaber hilt. He told the teenager of how, about a year or two ago, there were more frequent attacks against the Republic by the First Order. Galen had worked as a mercenary for the wealthy for many years. However, when he'd heard rumors that Kylo Ren and the First Order were looking for Luke Skywalker, the man had realized that he couldn't hide from his past any longer. He had to act.

He told of how he started planning to infiltrate the First Order. Luckily, years of being one of the best mercenaries in the galaxy could get you some of the best connections, connections that knew what you'd need to do, how you'd need to do it, and what you'd need to do it with. The best way would to go as a stormtrooper, they said, since those records would have the simplest information—number, squad, missions, all very simple things. Officers—even a petty officer—would have details not so easily faked. Thus Galen began to plan. He started taking jobs from the First Order to get more familiar with the layout of their ships, rankings, and technology. And he did. He was able to hack the system with one of the petty officer's computers, plant the information in the database. That was rather easy. Stealing a stormtrooper's armor and underclothes had been harder, and required quite a few Jedi mind tricks. Then fooling his new squad that he'd trained with many of them their whole lives proved a challenge, but most were very weak-minded, while the others—such as BC-0101—just didn't want to believe that anything out of the ordinary, and therefore blinded themselves to the truth. Their captain, Phasma, went by the records and not any of her own doubts.

"So it was that easy?" Petro snorted, hardly able to believe it. He'd thought that it was impossible to breech the First Order, let alone with ease. Galen nodded. "For someone with Jedi training, anyway," the former Jedi learner added. Petro nodded, sort of understanding what he meant by that—but only to an extent. "Speaking of which…" the bounty hunter mumbled, shooting Galen an uneasy glance. The man nodded, immediately catching on to what the teenager was saying. "I guess you didn't have much of a choice when I told you I wanted to train you," he said, though the cold look in his blue-green eyes was proof that Galen didn't really care. Petro nodded. "Ya…it's like you're my mom or something," he joked, but he didn't think it was funny, and he knew that Galen didn't either.

"You don't understand what it means, to be Force-sensitive. You've been given something, something that anyone can manipulate into using for their own benefit—manipulate _you_. You've already been manipulated. You've just never recognized it. Your father used you, you're friend Pacino used you, and then Norvvik used you. I don't want you to be used anymore. I want you to use yourself for good—or whatever else you choose to use it for. You can be like Skywalker, the greatest Jedi the galaxy has ever known, a Jedi Master. Or you can be like me: some two-credit* no-good low-life who uses the Force for whatever fancies me at the moment. The life's not that bad, actually, but it lacks…a definite purpose."

"But you both got to choose whether or not you wanted this training," Petro pointed out, bitterness enveloping his voice.

"No, actually, we didn't really get much of a choice," Galen growled, shooting the bounty hunter a nasty glare (and oh, wasn't he used to getting those by now!). "Luke wanted to become a Jedi like his father before him, but I think it was mostly because he _felt_ like he _had_ to. And I got even less of a choice than he did. My mother pretty much abandoned me and left me to the care of a man she'd never met—and for what? Because _my_ father was a Jedi, and _she_ felt as though _I_ had to be one, too?! No," he laughed mirthlessly, "we didn't have any more of a choice than you did—or at least I didn't. Luke may think differently."

"Oh…so when does this 'training,'" he used quotes with his hands, "start?"

"Tonight, hopefully. If not, tomorrow."

Then Galen turned to some random rebel and asked where he could get a change of clothes, since he had no need of his armor any longer. The rebel stared at him blankly for several seconds. One, one thousand. Two, one thousand. Three, one thousand…and so on and so forth.

* * *

Finn and Bellona Nightstar grinned and waved at each other. "Green Leader!" she hollered joyfully.

"How's my pilot doing?" responded the former stormtrooper as they embraced in a friendly hug. "Good, good, but it's Gale I'm worried about," she answered quickly, though the smile disappeared from her face as they parted. Finn frowned, his forehead creasing. "How bad is he?" he asked.

"Raving mad. Says he can see the past, present, and future. It's really bad. The doctors say that he's probably never going to get better.

The Green Leader sighed loudly and pinched the bridge of his nose with his hand. This wasn't good. Now he had to replace _two_ of his team members, Green 4 and Green 5.

"Bellona, do you know any new recruit who're qualified to go on the most dangerous missions?"

The pilot seemed to consider this. "Eh…maybe. I've got an idea of two new members, but I doubt they'll accept," she said. Finn frowned. "Why wouldn't they accept?" he asked. The reason why he'd asked Bellona in the first place was so that their search could be discrete; had he not, pretty much every member of the Resistance would volunteer to serve under Finn, hero of the Starkiller Airstrike. It seemed odd that the first two people that his second mate thought of wouldn't accept. _Surely, she must be mistaken_ , he thought.

Bellona nervously rubbed the back of her neck, her dark eyes darting around the war room as the others left. Also, she noticed that the Jedi girl—Rey? Frey?—was standing awkwardly near the door, probably waiting for Finn. The pilot felt a spark of jealousy…no, it couldn't be—and yet it was. She was jealous that the Jedi girl had some kind of special friendship with Finn, a friendship that Bellona could only guess the details of. To her squad leader, she was nothing more than a comrade or his pilot. "Friend" would be the limit. And yet…she'd spent more time with the man than this Jedi, and yet it was obvious that they cared for each other in one way or another. But she'd never had any feelings for the former stormtrooper herself, so she saw that her feelings were just the result of loneliness. "They're not even part of the Resistance yet," she explained at last.

"Wait, so who're you suggesting?" Finn asked.

The pilot said nothing. Finn's eyes widened as the realization dawned upon him.

"No, no, you're not suggesting _them_!"

* * *

As Finn turned around and started towards her, Rey knew that something was clearly bothering her friend. She hadn't heard all of what he and the woman were speaking of, but it was evident that it had shaken Finn. She frowned in concern, reaching out and touching her friend's arm. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing," Finn answered too quickly, "nothing at all." Rey's frown deepened. "You know that I can tell when you're lying," she warned him. At this, he laughed. "Really? Since you thought that I was part of the Resistance back on Jakku, I highly doubt that," he chuckled. She scowled, her frown deepening _even more_ (if that was even possible), and she punched Finn's arm. "Oww…" he protested, rubbing it. Despite the fact that the girl was skinny enough to be referred to as "scrawny," she wasn't weak; she could _punch_.

"Not funny!" she scolded, though the former stormtrooper could tell that she was trying not to smile. As they walked out, Finn could feel eyes glaring down into his neck. Now that they were out, he was unsure of what they should talk about. They'd spent a lot of time catching up on the _Falcon_ to the point of it hardly seeming like they hadn't seen each other in over a year. There just didn't seem to be much to talk about…

"You don't trust Galen, or Luke," Rey said suddenly. Finn nearly leapt out of his skin; how did she know _that_ of all things? "Well, it's not that I don't trust them, it's just that I—"

"Don't trust them," Rey cut him off, looking at him meaningfully. Finn stopped walking and raised up his hands, as if to say _Hey, hey, hey—don't gimme that look._ "I've never met Galen before, never heard anything about him before. And he was a stormtrooper when I first met him," he said. Rey snorted, playfully shoving him. " _You_ were a stormtrooper when _I_ first met you," she pointed out. "That was different!" he protested.

"No, it wasn't. It's pretty much the same thing."

Finn exhaled, rolling his eyes. He was _not_ about to argue about this right now, no sir, not in a billion light-years. "And Luke…well, he didn't even let you visit. Why?" he demanded. Now it was her turn to frown. "Well…he didn't want anyone to learn of Anch-To's location. He thought that if I told anyone—even you—the First Order would find out, and Snoke would destroy the last hope for restoring balance in the galaxy," she said, as though she had memorized it.

"You mean kill you," Finn said bitterly.

"No…no… _Luke_ is the last hope for the galaxy," she corrected, " _I'm_ just his student."

Finn snorted. "If you think that, then you're a lot more naïve than I thought," he said. They continued their walk in silence.

* * *

Luke Skywalker and his twin sister, Leia Organa, sat across from each other in the general's private quarters. Just as his sister opened her mouth to speak he frowned, holding up a hand to silence her. "I don't think I can bring him back," he told her bluntly. She sighed. "Han couldn't do it, and I know I can't if he failed," he went on to say. Leia sighed. "I know, it's just…he's my son, and I can't give up on him. You didn't give up on our father," she pointed out.

"I could sense good in him. But Ben…I don't think there's any redemption for him."

"You don't know that. You weren't there when it happened."

Luke cringed visibly and started rubbing his bearded chin absent-mindedly. "I could feel it, Leia, just like you could. I felt it and maybe more. Our father turned back to the light after he saved me. Ben turned his back completely on it after he murdered Han. It doesn't look too bright," he sighed. His sister shook her head. "There's redemption for everybody. They just…need help sometimes," she said, though it was more to reassure herself than her brother.

The Jedi Master couldn't have disagreed more. There was no redemption for Luke Skywalker.

* * *

Poe Dameron and Jed Keplin were sharing drinks and stories. Technically, alcohol was forbidden on the base, but Jed had always decided to ignore this rule—no matter what the consequences—and Poe had always decided that his friend knew what was best, even when their superiors strongly disagreed.

"So…da whole Foist Oidah's gonna come afta us'n da gwoil?" Jed slurred. Poe bit back a bark of laughter; the mechanic's voice always slurred whenever he was drunk. "Ya," Poe responded clearly (for he was several drinks away from losing his wits, though Jed had already drank twice as many as normally required to feel a buzz). Jed giggled softly and gulped down another glass of…whatever they were drinking, since Poe wasn't exactly sure. "Dat funny. Dat _weally_ funny," he said, choking on his drink. Poe laughed uncontrollably, spewing out his drink. Liquor ran out of his nose, stinging his nostrils and making his eyes water, which made him laugh all the more.

"Ahn't geddit," the drunked Jed continued rambling, "Ahn't ged why'd da Foist Oidah wisk bwingin awl deir fleet t'da base."

Poe couldn't give his friend a straight answer. He still thought it was funny that he couldn't seem to get his face to connect with his sleeve to wipe off the alcohol.

* * *

A/N: Ya...more of a filler chapter. Kind of facing writer's block...just a little bit, but a little bit can go a long, long way. Yep, this one's not very good. I'll try to up the quality in the next few chapters. If you guys have any suggestions, do tell. I know I've said that I don't really care if you review or not, but now I may need a little help. Stupid frickin writer's block ruining stupid frickin stories.


	13. Chapter Twelve: The Dreams

A/N: OK, so it my last chapter I mistakenly called **100th Century** "100th." This is because I am a careless nincompoop. Yay for me! Okay, now since that's out of the way, here's chapter twelve.

* * *

Chapter Twelve: The Dreams

" _Hey, princess. How'd you like to go visit Gally?" her mother asks, a big grin on her face. Rey giggles and clings to her mother's robes. "Yeah! Yeah! We get to go see Gally!" she sang out, clearly happy about the announcement._

 _Flashing lights. Watching a ship leave._

 _"Nooooooo!"_

 _She's scared, but she's not really sure what she should be scared of. Someone is carrying her. She whimpers softly and buries her face in the person's robes. "Hush," the person says, stroking the back of her head, "hush, love. It's going to be all right. It's going to be all right." The little girl sniffs. "B-b-but he-he-h-he s-s-said y-y-you…h-he s-said y-y-you…" her tiny voice cracks as she burst into tears. Then she hears the sound, the unmistakable very-bad-sound, the sound that the very-bad-man made when he hurt Bogan. She shrieks in panic and buries her head even more into her rescuer's clothing. She felt her rescuer grow stiff. "Get back," he (she can tell it's a he now) growls, holding the little girl protectively. He takes a step backwards. "Stay back, or I_ will _kill you!" he continues. "Of course," a robotic voice chillingly utters. The sound of his voice caused Rey to wail._

 _She is roughly tossed in a hole. "Stay here. No matter what happens, no matter what you hear, don't come out," a strained voice orders. But Rey doesn't want the owner of the voice to leave. "No!" she protests, lunging forward and grabbing the figure's sleeve. The figure grumbles something under his breath and turns to her. "It's all right," the voice says softly, "I'll come back for you. I'm not going to leave you. Sit tight, love."_

Rey started up in her bed. She gasped for breath, rubbing her eyes roughly. That one was so clear—so, so clear! Never, _never_ had she ever dreamt so vividly. And that specter in her dream…that person without a face…she'd seen it. _Him._ She'd seen _him_. "Galen," she whispered.

There was still so much she didn't understand, and still so much that she couldn't yet grasp. But now she knew that there was someone who did.

* * *

Galen Bridger couldn't sleep. But that wasn't unusual; he hardly ever had good nights ever since his best friend tried to kill him—no, rephrase that: his best friend was murdered, and the murderer tried to kill Galen, too. Yup. That was a much better way of putting it.

Part of the reason was because of the nightmares every night. Those were…bad. Bad was the only word Galen could use to describe them. Bad. Bad, very bad, and extremely bad. He didn't know whether the nightmares were memories, visions of the future, or figments of his own imagination, but he knew that they were bad. Very bad. Bad enough to keep him away for days at a time with not a minute of sleep.

The other reason was that one of his might-be-ghosts-or-one-of-those-crazy-hallucinations-friends was trying to talk to him. _"Galen."_ It was Artemis. For once, he didn't care if the ghosts were real or not. "Artie? Artie, is that you?" he asked, hardly able to believe it. He'd never heard from her; it was always Aldous, or Bogan, or Jacen…

 _"Galen, you need to get a grip on yourself,"_ the wraith of the girl said. He frowned. "What? What d'you mean? How—why are you here?" he stammered. The ghostly girl frowned (Galen thought it strange that she still managed to keep that frown even in death) and messed with one of her braids. _"You've been moping around lately. You're last talk with Aldous was…_ unacceptable. _You need to, in other words, suck it up,"_ she snapped. His frown deepened. "Huh?" he mumbled unintelligently.

Artemis rolled her eyes—which, in life, had been a soft green. Someone else in the barracks shouted at him to shut up. _"You think that what happened to Ben was your fault, right?"_ she asked, even though she knew the answer. Galen nodded, not wanting to answer aloud so that all of the Resistance wouldn't think he was an insane Jedi—which he may have been or may not have been. _"Well, it wasn't, and I'm here to tell you that. And before you get all 'oh, it's all my fault and don't blame it on anyone else and shut up and I'm sorry you died and I couldn't save you,' listen to what I've got to say."_ The ghoulish girl leaned in closer, and Galen swore that he could feel her breath on his face. _"You are a kriffing idiot,"_ she hissed. Galen smiled; he couldn't help himself. "That's exactly what you would say, you know. My brain did a brilliant job with making you," he said. The image of Artemis flickered slightly. _"C'mon, you laserbrain. You_ know _better than to say something like that! I might disappear,"_ she scolded.

To the apparition's displeasure, Galen started laughing again. "You'd say that, too," he chuckled.

"Whoever's talking better shut up!" someone shouted, in which grumblings seconded it. Galen ignored them. _"It was Ben's choice to succumb to the wiles of Snoke. You couldn't've helped him. You_ know _that no one could've helped him. It's no more your fault than it is Luke's, and you know that. And_ quit taking your anger out on Luke. _He thinks you're blaming him,"_ she said. Galen snorted. "And yet I've made it my whole point to make sure he knows that it's my fault and not his," he sighed.

 _"That's where you two are similar. You both blame yourselves—and yet you scoff at the idea that it's anyone else's fault,"_ laughed Artemis. Her transparent face then grew serious, and she brought her hand up to Galen's face. He couldn't feel anything, of course; his crazy subconscious seemed to realize that it couldn't fool his conscious into believing what he was actually seeing and feeling was real. _"You know I just want you to be happy…I know that it's hard nowadays, but you'll make it. For both of us,"_ she whispered. He closed his eyes.

When he opened them, she was gone. He smirked, knowing that whoever saw him would wonder at whatever the former Jedi learner was thinking. _I seem to know myself better than my brain's letting on_ , he mused.

* * *

" _No,_ I _am your father."_

 _Robotic breathing. Excruciating pain._

 _He stands alone in front of the cave on Dagobah. No, he isn't alone. There are four teenage students standing in front of him. One of them, the only girl, lets out a shaky breath. "We're supposed to go in_ there _alone?" she asks, not being able to believe it. Luke nods, though he understands the girl's fear. It is rather intimidating to look upon. He reassuringly pats her shoulder. "It will be fine, Artemis," he says. Another one, the tallest (yet thinnest) one, straightens his shoulders. "_ I'm _not afraid," he boasts. One of the other ones, the one with the broadest shoulders and the most muscular build, shoves his friend's shoulder. "Shut it, Al," he spits, "you_ should _be scared." Al glares at him. "Oh, so you're saying that even you are scared, Gally?" he challenges. Gally nods. "Of course I'm scared. This place tells you what you are, no matter what you think or want to see," he says. The last one, who is not quite as tall as Al or quite as muscular as Gally, makes his voice in the matter known. "Guys, we need to quit arguing," he says. Luke smiles. That is his nephew, Ben Solo._

 _"Galen, what's wrong with you today?" Luke asks. Galen doesn't turn to face him, only continues to stare at the lightsaber in his hands. "Ben is…upset," he admits, "and he won't tell me what it is all about." Luke sighs and sits down beside his ward. "I'm sure it will be fine," he says, patting the young man's shoulder. Galen shakes his head and turns to face his master. Luke can clearly see that the boy is very troubled. "Father, I don't know what's wrong with him! He won't tell me! Why won't he tell me? We're brothers, Father, we're brothers!" he cries out, dropping his saber hilt to the floor. He covers his face with his hands and begins to sob._

 _He's trying so hard—so, so hard—to reach out and find him. "Galen!" he keeps screaming, reaching out the farthest he has ever dared before. "Galen! Galen, answer me!" But he gets no response. He is painfully reminded of his own father being able to reach out to him._ Help me, Father, help me find the boy. Help me find my son. _"Galen! Galen, my son, where are you?!" And yet he knows that the lad is alive somewhere. He would've sensed his death. He would've felt something. And yet…why can't he feel anything now? "Galen!"_

 _Jade has tears in her eyes as she reaches for their daughter's hand. "Rey, come on, darling, we've got to go somewhere," she says. The little girl frowns and looks up at Luke. "What about Gally?" she asks. Luke bites back a scream. How can he explain it to a little girl, the little girl that they were going to abandon? He can't do this._ I can't do this, _he realizes. He turns to his wife. "I'm going to do it now," he says. Jade shakes her head, fighting back the urge to break down in front of the remains of her family. "No, no! I need you right now!_ She _needs you right now! You can't leave us!" she hisses in a whisper, covering their daughter's ears as she does so. Luke shakes his head. "I can't. I'm a failure. I couldn't keep my students safe, couldn't keep Ben safe—I couldn't even keep_ my own son _safe! I can't keep Rey safe, either." He sighs. "I can't keep you safe, love." He stares into his wife's eyes for the last time. A single tear falls, though it is impossible to tell if it's due to sadness or hate or both. He closes his eyes and reaches into the Force. The girl's eyes grow clouded, and Jade lifts the now-unconscious girl in her arms. They don't say another word to each other. Luke thinks that they never will._

 _When he senses her again, his daughter, he doesn't know what to feel—or even if he_ should _feel. He then discovers that he can't feel anything: no joy, no sadness, no guilt, and, surprisingly, no regret. She stands before him, grown now, but she doesn't look that much like Jade. Luke had seen some pictures of his own mother in the Republic's archives. Rey looks more like Senator Padmé Amidala than Senator Jade Skywalker. She's holding something…no, she's offering it to him. But what is it? His gaze drops from her face to the object in her hand. A lightsaber._ His _lightsaber._ His father's _lightsaber. He stares at it, hardly able to believe that it's really there in front of him…with her._ Her, _of all people, with_ that, _of all the things from his past…_

 _She's a natural with a lightsaber. That much is evident. She seems to have a natural connection with the Force, too, like she's been able to tap into it without realizing it. Luke doesn't think that's too odd. After all, there are many cases of those who are powerful enough to reach into the Force without knowing it. Galen's biological father, Ezra Bridger, was a prime example of such feats. He bites back a smile. Strange, that his daughter would be like his adopted son's real father…and his adopted son would be so much like him, instead. Fate is cruel._ More like a cruel joke, _he thought. However, telekinesis isn't much of her strong suite. She didn't seem to grasp the fact that size isn't an obstacle. "Size matters not," he would tell her, quoting the words of his old master all those many years ago._

 _She wants to leave. He can see it in her eyes. She hasn't even asked him yet, and yet he can see that she's about to ask it. She opens her mouth to speak, but he holds up his hand, cutting her off. "Are we going to have to talk about why you can't go back again?" he asks. He's trying not to sound frustrated, but he knows that she can tell. She always can tell what's on his mind. She frowns. Luke decided long ago that she looks like Jade the most whenever she's upset. He found that somehow ironic. "There will be worried about me," she mumbles, gazing at the blue blade in her hand. Luke had decided against taking back his old weapon—after all, it had called to her…that, and he was used to the feel of the lightsaber he'd built, and his father's lightsaber felt unfamiliar in his hands; he had gotten old, and he had lost track of time. "It's only been a few weeks, and they'll be anxious for me to contact them," she continues. He shakes his head. "I know that it's hard. It was hard for me, too, in the beginning. But…it's for the greater good: your own, and theirs. It's best that they not know," he explains yet_ again, _but he can tell that she doesn't agree with him in the slightest._

 _It's been nearly a year, and she's started to have terrible nightmares. At first, she only gives him a brief description of them: lights, her parents leaving her, red lightsabers, etc. But then one night, she looks especially shaken. She comes into his chambers. It's very late, but he is awake, as she knew he would be. Her hands shake visibly, and Luke sees that she has dark bags under her eyes. Whatever dreams that are plaguing her have left her with absolutely no rest. "Master," she pants, "I need to talk with you." He nods, sitting up on his bed. He motions for her to sit beside him, and she obeys. She takes a deep breath. Then she explains her latest nightmare, and this time, she doesn't restrain herself. She tells him of how she dreamt that her friends were dying: Finn, Poe, Leia, Chewbacca, even Han. She tells him of how it was her fault in the dream, and that they were dying in the worst ways possible. She describes how they were hanging by their intestines and how she was powerless to save them. Luke sees that she was very shaken by these visions. He tries to reassure her, tell her that these were just normal nightmares and weren't the future, but she listens with only half an ear._

 _There will be many more nights like this before she leaves._

 _Now…everything is leading up to this: a war, a terrible, terrible war. A war between good and evil, light and darkness, peace and passion. Friend fights against friend, brother fights against brother, father fights against son. He watches the scene unfold before him, as he has done many times in the past twelve years. A war between the Jedi and the Sith. A war that would start because of Luke. No, he can't allow it. He holds out his arms and screams at them to stop, but they ignore him. He watches as his nephew and his daughter battle in the midst of the turmoil. He watches as the Knights of Ren attack her. He watches as his adopted son saves her. He watches as the boy falls to the dark…_

Luke woke up, and immediately cursed himself. He always woke up at that one part, the part where Galen gets that look in his eyes and thrusts out his hand towards Rey…

The Jedi rubbed his temples. She always asked why he wouldn't call for the other surviving students. Luke knew that Galen thought he knew why, but the boy was wrong. Galen thought that Luke wouldn't do it because he felt like he'd fail again. The truth was that he knew what would happen. The Jedi wouldn't be safe. They'd be thrust into a war against the servant of the dark side. They'd be thrust into a war that they cannot hope to win.

But he wouldn't allow it.

He wouldn't call for his students.

He wouldn't start the war that the galaxy wasn't ready for, that _he_ wasn't ready for.

He wouldn't let the sides of the Force be forever out of sync.

It was more than just him not wanting to; he couldn't allow it. He would do everything in his power to prevent it.

* * *

Rey couldn't go back to sleep.

Well, that seemed pretty normal, seeing that she'd just had a terrible nightmare. But she also felt full of energy. She felt like she could fight three different Knights of Ren at the same time. Of course, she actually couldn't—she couldn't even fight one—but she _felt_ as though she could. Rey, like everyone else other than Luke (except for Chewbacca, who was adamant on keeping the _Falcon_ safe, and Petro, who said he liked sleeping outdoors better anyways), had insisted on sleeping in the common soldier's barracks; after all, they were all part of the Resistance now.

She hurriedly strapped on her boots and grabbed her lightsaber hilt before rushing out of the barracks—though she did this quietly, hoping that no one would be awakened by her.

Even as she opened the door, she felt the cool night air of Yavin 4 softly caress her face. She inhaled deeply, breathing in the fresh air. It was rather stuffy in the barracks, and it felt nice to get a whiff of anything with a hint of…well, anything other than grease, dirt, and body odor. She smiled at the thought. She didn't look at the sky, otherwise she would've seen that the clouds cloaked the stars and planets and moons that normally would've been visible. It probably would've depressed her and caused her to return to the smelly old barracks, but, instead, she chose to look at the ships. As a child (well…a child on Jakku, anyway, since she'd discovered that she'd been a totally different child before then) she had been fascinated by ships. She hadn't known—and still didn't, really—what caused her to be attracted to them, only that they flew and could take one far, far away to wherever they wanted to go. She had always wanted a ship of her own, one that would take her away to that island in the middle of the ocean. _Strange, that some dreams can actually come true,_ she reflected.

"You know, I thought you were some random rebel coming here to kill me."

Rey whipped around and activated her lightsaber, pointing it at the figure in front of her. She immediately deactivated it when she realized who had spoken. "You frightened me," she hissed, glaring at the person in the dark. Petro Varden shrugged. "Eh, I can say the same about you, but then, that would be admitting that I'm not immune to fear," he said nonchalantly.

"That would be admitting that you're human," Rey pointed out.

"Well…I may only be half human. I don't really know what species my dad was, and he sure didn't _act_ like a human." Petro turned around and scanned the area behind them. "I don't understand how hundreds of people can stand being cramped up in the same room together. It's like you're a slave or something," he mused. Rey shrugged. "They're dedicated to their cause," she responded. "Eh," Petro mumbled, "so are slaves. Slaves and soldiers aren't that different, y'know? The only difference is that soldiers aren't worth as much in the market and slaves don't live by the illusion that they're free. But besides that, it's pretty much the same exact thing. Kind of. Definitely." Rey shook her head as the boy turned back around to face her. "Well, _I_ don't think it's the same thing, and I don't think any of the soldiers do, either," she retorted.

"Exactly. That's because you live under the illusion that it's not the same thing when it really is. You wouldn't understand unless you'd been a slave, like me," Petro said, rolling his grey eyes under the cloak of night. Rey still didn't agree. "Maybe it's because you've never really had a motive to do anything like the members of the Resistance do. Maybe it's because you didn't choose slavery," she dared to say.

"That's where your theory becomes bantha dung, girl. You're going by information you don't really understand to support your idea, and therefore are reading off information with your eyes closed and trusting intuition. You see, I _have_ been motivated to do many things in my short life, just as you have. I've been motivated to help someone assassinate my father. I've been motivated to smuggle with different assortments of scum across the galaxy. I've been motivated to kill innocent people to send a message. I've been motivated to join a bounty hunter in order to achieve vengeance for the deaths of some of my friends. However, I've never been motivated to join some silly little organized-what's-it to fight against another silly little organized-what's-it. Now that I've pointed out that flaw on your part, shoot away so that I might shoot back."

Rey was utterly confused by what the bounty hunter had just said.

Petro seemed to realize this, for a wide grin appeared on his face, a grin that the girl couldn't see in the dark. "Well, then. You might as well bring something else up for us to argue about. I like these kinds of games. They're a lot of fun, y'know," he said, still smiling. Rey frowned; she realized that she'd been doing that a lot more, lately. "Shouldn't you be trying to get some rest or something?" she asked suddenly.

"Well, I could say the same about you…but no, I shouldn't be trying to get any rest. I'm thinking, obviously. I gotta keep my wits, otherwise somebody'll blow my brains out. Boom. Blam. Boom blam blam boom blam boom _aaaaaggggggggggghhhhhhhh_!" The last part was some kind of agonized wail, and it caused Rey to flinch and reach for her lightsaber until she discovered that the boy was laughing. "You're not quite right in the head, are you?" she asked.

He stopped laughing immediately. "What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded, clearly offended. Rey paused, unsure of what she was going to say.

"Well, come on, do tell already!"

"When you talk…it's rather odd. You say stuff that seems to be the opposite of what it really is, and your laugh—your laugh just sounds crazy," she admitted at last.

Silence.

"You know, why don't you turn on that flashy sword of yours? I can't see a damned thing in the dark."

Rey didn't see the harm in obeying his request. She activated her lightsaber and held it out towards the teenager. In the light, she saw that he wasn't much younger than herself, perhaps by a little more than a year. But his eyes… _I wonder what he's seen that's so terrible_ , she thought. She remembered once seeing a being who supposedly was the last of his species, back when she lived on Jakku, of course. It had eyes like Petro Varden: eyes that seemed to have seen everything they had ever known destroyed before them, and they'd been powerless to do anything other than watch. She must've visibly displayed what she was thinking, for the boy laughed in his maniacal way. "You know, you're one of the easiest people to read in the galaxy," he commented, leaning forward until his face was just inches from her own; she had to maneuver the lightsaber so as to avoid the bounty hunter ramming into it. "Why do you say that?" she asked.

"Dunno. Guess you're just…innocent. Pure. Untainted. The opposite of me, basically."

"Really?" Rey challenged. "I witnessed the destruction of Luke's Jedi academy."

"Really?" fired Petro with equal intensity. "I saw my owner—who's also my dad, by the way—saw him rape my mother over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again and again and again. Then he killed her. Then I helped somebody kill him. Then I killed a bunch of people, too. Then I saw my surrogate family get flayed alive. Then I became a bounty hunter. I think I win."

He watched victoriously as the girl's face contorted with disgust, horror, and, surprisingly, pity. He didn't like the last part. He turned away so she couldn't see the look on his face. He _hated_ it when people pitied him. Unluckily for him (since when was he _not_ unlucky, anyway?) the girl seemed to notice his discomfort. "You don't care about what the people who don't like you will do to you. You just don't like being around other people," she realized.

"Hm? What's that, now—I wasn't listening, I was thinking about something else."

Rey sighed. "You don't care whether or not you live or die, do you?" she asked. Petro turned around to face her, a tired expression on his face. "Well…depends on your perspective. Perspective's everything, y'know. From _my_ perspective, when you're dead, nobody can do you wrong anymore. When you're dead, you don't spend your nights wide awake wondering whether or not you want to keep up the charade anymore. When you're dead, you don't get hurt anymore," he rambled.

Rey didn't understand. "If you hate life that much, why haven't you killed yourself?" she asked, then immediately realized what she had just said and regretted in sincerely.

"Eh…that's giving up. Cowardice. Foolish. Kriffing selfish, too. That and I might find a reason for it all if I just keep moving forward," Petro explained. He could tell that the girl still didn't understand. He sighed loudly. "Lemme put it this way: what's your purpose in life? Is it to get Mr. Hotshot to settle down with you? To have kids and a family? To have a job, to have love? What's your purpose?" he said, giving her a meaningful look. She shrugged. "I don't know. How am I supposed to know?" she fumed. She didn't like these stupid games the boy loved playing.

"See? I don't know, either—and until I know, I'm gonna stick around. Then, and _only_ then, if I don't like it, _then_ I can crash my ship into the belly of a Sarlaac."

Rey was rather relieved when the boy mumbled something about seeing a satellite and wandered off. He could go play his silly games by himself.

* * *

Poe Dameron felt very comfortable in his own bed in the male barracks. After all, this is where he belonged: here, with his kind of people, his team, his friends. This is what mattered to him. This is where he was at home.

Just because you feel safe doesn't mean your mind has no doubts in the matter.

 _He's flying his X-Wing, like he always does. He's leading his team, Black Squad or Black Team or whatever you want to call it. Other Resistance squads are flying around him, doing their own thing and following their own leader. Even though he still considers them family, he can really care less about what they're up to; he trusts them to do the right thing._

 _But the battle is taking a turn for the worse. TIE Fighters and other ships commissioned by none other than the dreaded First Order are swarming the place. The ships of the Resistance are plummeting to the surface of whatever kriffing planet they're trying to protect._

 _Speak of the devil…_

 _One of those druk-eating buckethead pilots decides that he's going to be the one who kills Poe Dameron. "Not today," the Resistance hero mutters under his breath as he spins the ship out of the TIE Fighter's range. Still, the pilot seems adamant on sending Poe to the grave. He trails him, trying to lock onto the rebel's ship. Poe presses his comm. "Hey, boys, I need some help here!" he shouts as he desperately tries another move to evade the assailant's gunfire. He hears nothing but static in response._

 _"Gill?"_

 _Nothing._

 _"Diomed?"_

 _No answer._

 _"Tyrese? Paris? Mark? ANYBODY?!" he yells in panic. He's got one of the biggest squads in the Resistance, and yet not one of them attempts to answer him back. Then he starts calling for people not in his squad, people that surely cannot hear him._

 _"Torq! Torq, you laserbrain, get on over here! Gale, you too! Either or both of you, I need some help!"_

 _The TIE Fighter manages to clip one of his wings. It's not critical damage, but it makes it a hell of a lot harder to fly._

 _"Bellona! Bellona, I will kick your little—"_

 _BLAM!_

 _Poe curses loudly as he assesses the damage. Both of his right wings are on fire._

 _"Jed! Finn, old buddy old pal! HELP! Somebody, HELP!"_

 _He struggles just to keep the ship airborne; if he crashes, it's sure to be fatal. Finally, he hears a voice on the comm. "It's about time! Somebody get this TIE off my tail!" he yells._

 _"Resistance is pointless. You and your friends will all be dead soon."_

 _Poe refrains himself from screaming. That wasn't anybody in his team. That's wasn't even anybody in_ Finn's _team! That was…_

 _"Kylo Ren, huh? How'd you kriffing get into my comm?!" he hollers, still trying to evade the enemy ship that still fired away at him relentlessly._

 _"Resistance is pointless, Poe Dameron. You will die, just like your father before you."_

 _Then the buckethead pilot of the TIE Fighter finally hits its mark. Poe's X-Wing bursts into flames, and plunges down to meet its destiny._

Poe's eyes popped open. Slowly, so as not to disturb anybody (the last thing you want to do on your first night back from a mission is wake everybody up), he sat up in his bunk, trying to make sense of the dream he'd just had. After a few minutes he frowned. He couldn't really remember that much of it, only that he crashed. _He,_ _Poe Dameron,_ crashed!

* * *

" _Aren't you a little too short to be a stormtrooper?" she asks as he walks into her cell. "Oh!" he exclaims after a moment's hesitation, and he hurriedly takes off his helmet. "My name's Luke Skywalker, and I'm here to rescue you," he answers quickly. Leia resists the urge to roll her eyes._ This clown's here to rescue me? _she thinks with a hint of annoyance._ This guy just had to've been raised on a farm!

 _She sees this scoundrel, telling her that he only rescued her for the reward. How she_ hates _scum like this! And yet…there's something rather charming about him… No, she is a princess and leader of the Rebellion. She will_ not _gawk like a starry-eyed dame at a man with fewer morals than he had showers!_

 _They're arguing. They've done that a lot, lately. It starts out with something simple, such as Ben screaming and waking them up at night due to his terrible nightmares. Han seems to be more bothered by being awoken in the middle of the night than she does. "Why don't ya just SHAD UP!" he hollers at the top of his lungs. "Don't yell at him like that!" she immediately responds, rolling out of bed and glaring at him accusingly. He holds up his hands in defense. "Looks,_ I'm _not the one who screams about scary guys in masks all the time! He hasn't even seen anything scary! He's never had to run across the galaxy for his life or face Sith lords!" he snarls. Leia ignores him and rushes into her son's…no,_ their _son's room. Ben is in the state she had gotten used to in the past few nights: crying, puffy-faced, and shaking visibly. She sits beside him and cradles his head. "What's wrong?" she asks lovingly, concern tracing her voice. Her son shakes her head solemnly. He doesn't answer her._

 _She can't believe the news when it reaches her ears. Her son,_ her son, _wasn't capable of doing such dreadful things…no, she can't believe it. She_ won't _believe it. But this young man's eyes don't have a hint of untruthfulness in them, and she can't sense anything other than great sorrow in him—but then, he's never opened up to her like this before. "It can't be right," she gasps after having a moment to take everything in, "you must be mistaken." "There's no mistaking anything, Leia. I sensed him myself. He revealed himself to me. I fought with him. I don't want to believe it any more than you do, Senator, but Ben's gone. He's fallen to the dark side," the messenger spits. She turns away from him, not wanting him to see the guilt in her eyes, not wanting to see the accusatory glare in her son's dearest friend's blue-green eyes. She inhales deeply before continuing. "And what are you planning to do, Galen? Find Luke and help him find the scattered survivors?" she asks. "No." Leia frowns and turns around. "What do you mean?" she demands._ Surely, _she thought,_ surely he doesn't mean it. _"I don't know what's become of Luke. I can't sense him right now, not in this turmoil," Galen explains. There's so much pain in his eyes. So much pain and guilt and hurt. "But what is Luke going to do? Ben must be stopped! He has to be brought back!" she says. Galen shakes his head. "You don't…just…_ come back _from the dark side…it's too hard—" but his voice cracked. Leia reached out her hand to reassure him but he pulled away from her, looks of disgust and betrayal in his face. "Don't touch me," he hisses. Leia immediately recoils. She tries not to feel hurt—after all, he never did trust her, so why should he now? "Where will you go, then? What will you do?" He frowns at her question. "I don't know. Get away from here," he thrusts out his arm, pointing at his surroundings, "all of this, everything. Go into hiding, get away from all of this." She sighs. "May the Force be with you, Galen Bridger," she whispers. He frowns. "I don't think the Force is going to be with any of us any time soon, Senator," he responds._

This was not the first of Leia Organa's nightmares that night.

This was not the last, either.

* * *

A/N: I loved writing this chapter, though I think I rely on those stupid Force dreams/visions and normal dreams/flashbacks. I mean, _I_ don't think they're stupid; that's why I do them all the time in the first place (duh)! At least the small bout of writer's block I was dealing with is gone. Also, discovered this old fantasy (I think it's fantasy, anyway) book called _Over Sea, Under Stone._ I haven't finished it yet, but so far it's pretty good, meaning you don't _have_ to check it out, but it might be worth your time.

OK, so I have several camps to go to this part of the summer. I have to go to Florida (yay...don't like beaches, orange groves, suburbs, or amusement parks, thank you very much) next week, THEN I have to go to a camp in Georgia, THEN I have to go to a camp here in West Virginia, AND FINALLY I still have a band camp to go to. So if you see that I haven't updated in, like, four or five weeks, it's because I'm busy. It's not a hiatus, nor me being lazy, just forces that I can't control (I seriously don't want to go to Florida or Georgia, but my parents are the ones who feed me, so their word is law). Well, at least I may actually finish _The Restaurant at the End of the Universe_ during that time.


	14. Chapter Thirteen: The Drones

A/N: Wow. It's been so, so long...

Well, that camp in Georgia was actually awesome besides the fact that my knees had to be covered at all times. I met the biggest Star Wars fans ever (we nerded out for, like, half an hour at a time).

Besides the other camps I had to go to, I also had to go to two funerals, and then school started. I guess camps and funerals and school counts as excuses. Still, it has been well over a month since I last updated, and this chapter is more than 3.5k words.

Shoutout to **BenRG** for reviewing my story three times (which may not sound like a lot to some people who post chapters only when they hit a certain number of reviews, which I don't believe in, but it is to someone who doesn't really ask for them). One of the reviews he posted kind of voiced my concerns with the way tTotJ is turning out; I've actually considered rewriting it several times during my temporary exile from society in July. However, I think I'm going to continue writing it the way it is. I'm also aware of several inconsistencies in this story: Ahch-To, the planet where Rey found Luke Skywalker on, is incorrectly spelled Anch-To in this story. Also, I think I've confused D'Qar with Tokanda, the planet Maz Kanata's castle was on. Right now I have neither the time nor the patience to correct all of these numerous mistakes, but they _will_ eventually be corrected.

All righty. Sorry about the long Author's Note. Here's chapter thirteen!

* * *

Chapter Thirteen: The Drones

Petro Varden could do a lot of things, mainly shoot at beings with exceptionally large heads and run away from sieges that he helped orchestrate. He could also identify an expensive-looking drone when he saw one.

As soon as he saw it, he crouched down; he knew that it probably wouldn't be best to be spotted on a Resistance base. Though he could not yet confirm it, he was certain that it was a First Order drone. Who else would want to potentially waste millions of credits on sending drones everywhere to the far reaches of the galaxy? Petro knew that this could not be the only one: if you sent one drone, you sent hundreds of them.

He heard the drone make some odd sounds, but he couldn't discern whether it was a language or just noises—but then, he only knew a handful of languages, and that was including Basic and Huttese. However, he felt as though _someone_ had to stay and watch what the stupid thing did.

And, well, it just had to be him. But then, wasn't it always him that got caught up in situations like this?

The young man was torn. He knew that the drone would be able to read any lifeforms on Yavin 4, and Yavin 4 was populated by a bunch of rebels. They would be dead in the morning. However, he knew that destroying the drone would still alert its senders _and_ get Petro even more involved with these people. He silently cursed Galen Bridger for putting him in this situation. And Luke Skywalker. And that one girl (he'd forgotten her name again.) Pretty much half of the galaxy's lifeforms. _Well, at least you'd be making yourself useful,_ he thought.

 _And getting a target on your back._

 _You already have one._

 _That's beside the point. This would make people think that you're willing to do more stuff._

 _You're willing to do_ this, _aren't you?_

 _I'm going crazy,_ Petro decided as he pulled out one of his blasters. Though the sky was dark and the drone was just as dark, Petro could clearly see the confounded thing's outline. He closed one eye. Then he pulled the trigger.

 _BAM! HISSSSSSS!_

"Well, you got that done, Varden," he told himself as he placed his blaster back in his holster, "now you've just gotta get out of here before everything starts lighting up."

* * *

The next morning, the base was in complete panic. At least three of the watchmen had reported sighting drones the night before. General Organa called for a meeting in the war room.

"This has got to be the work of the First Order," said one of the commanders. "No question about it," added another. Leia turned to Luke, giving him a questioning look. "I don't know what to expect. The Starkiller Base is destroyed. They've been quiet up to the skirmish on D'Qar," the general admitted. The Jedi Master shook his head. "The dark side clouded my vision today. I couldn't see anything," he said apologetically.

"We've got to expect something that make looks D'Qar look like child's play," Poe Dameron suggested. "Or we can expect nothing at all," argued one of the older captains.

Finn turned to Galen. "You infiltrated them during the past year. How big are they?"

Galen seemed to be very disinterested in all that was going on. It seemed to take him a couple of seconds to register Finn's question. "They've been recruiting far more…feverishly than before. The captains were always on edge. There was talk of recruiting Mandalorians—" The last statement was greeted by gasps. Galen continued as though he hadn't just been interrupted. "—for generals. There was talk of negotiations with Droog Kryze, whom the people of Mandalore favor very much," he finished.

This caused much uproar in the war room. "Why didn't you tell us this before?" demanded one of the commanders. Galen shrugged. "It wasn't relevant before. To you, anyway," he spat. "How serious were these talks?" General Organa asked, a hint of anxiety in her voice.

"I—along with the others in my squad—personally accompanied General Hux to Mandalore for these negotiations."

An already bad day was just getting worse, in Rey's opinion. "How could this have happened under the Resistance's watch?" she demanded, annoyed with her friends' and allies' incompetence. "We're not omniscient, you know," Poe pointed out. "Still, Mandalore is huge. You'd think you'd at least want to keep watch on it—especially because of its history," she continued.

"During a relatively peaceful time, a side of a war may sometimes expend too much energy preparing for an attack instead of preventing an attack," Galen scoffed. Poe and several others glared at the former Jedi learner. "Where were you when the First Order destroyed the system the Republic resided in?" the pilot snarled.

"Trying to find her," Galen said, pointing at Rey.

Rey opened her mouth to say something when someone burst into the room. Two men ran quickly behind him, each grabbing one of his arms. "We're sorry, ma'am," one of them said to General Organa, "we tried to stop him, but he—"

"They're not going to attack, you laserbrains!" screamed the young man. Rey then recognized who he was. Petro Varden, that odd boy with a death wish. "Release him," Leia ordered. The two men seemed confused but obeyed anyway. Petro wiped off his jacket, flipped off the two men with both of his middle fingers, then turned back towards the group of generals. "They're not going to attack. They just want to see what planets are being occupied by the Resistance right now," he said. Zeff Mareck snorted. "You're the ex-bounty hunter, right? How do we know you're not working for them?" he asked. "And how would you know, anyway?" added Poe.

"One question at a time, sleemos!" protested Petro. Rey saw Finn make a gagging motion and cover his mouth, while Galen seemed to be trying his best not to laugh. "Right….so….I've come to the conclusion that the First Order doesn't want to attack. Yet. Emphasis on _yet._ Right now, all they care about is killing Mr. Luke Guystalker—" Galen burst out laughing. "—and Shay. And probably Galen, since he also has a flashy sword….what're you guys looking at me like that? I had a dream. Well, it was more like a dream while you're still awake, but those happen to everybody…."

He then went on to explain what he had seen the night before. _After he shot the drone, a human male showed up out of nowhere. "Who're you?" Petro had asked. "You must warn them" was the answer the man gave. "What the fark are you talking about?" he'd demanded in response. "You need to make them understand the bigger picture. The Force. The dark side. Snoke. Petty things like stormtroopers and politics aren't important anymore," the man had told him. "I don't understand," Petro had said, trying to feign ignorance. "I think you do. I think you've been wondering about it ever since Galen Bridger made you choose death or his teachings. You've felt it, haven't you? You felt it nearly a year ago, along with the rest of those like you. Even the smallest of children felt it. And you know that_ the others _felt it, too. You know that_ they _are the evil ones—_ they _who gave you all of those terrible dreams when you were naught but a small child. You know that_ they _are the real danger. You must warn the Jedi. You must help them," the man had sneered. "Why me?" Petro had demanded. "Because otherwise you will go through your whole life doing nothing but fearing everything." The then man had left just as mysteriously as he had arrived._

When he was finished, the whole room seemed to be consisting of nothing but small, accusing whispers. "It's the Jedi Snoke wants, not the Resistance. Not yet," he said once more. "So you're saying that our cause is too insignificant to be noticed by the First Order? They've warred with us so many times!" growled Zeff.

"Nobody said you weren't important. All I said is that you're kind of unimportant at the moment," Petro said.

"This meeting is dismissed," General Leia Organa spoke up at last. All of the rebels gave her odd looks.

"But general—"

"That's absurd!"

"We've done nothing yet!"

"The words of a criminal mean nothing!"

"Why should we believe him?"

"He must be crazy!"

"ENOUGH! THE GENERAL SAID EVERYBODY LEAVE! NOW!"

All voices grew silent; all eyes turned to Galen Bridger. Rey noticed that Luke seemed very disturbed….and was it just her, or were Galen's eye a little….crimson? As some of the rebels started towards the exits, Leia ordered Rey, Luke, Galen, and Petro to stay behind—to which Finn immediately protested. "I need to know about this, too. The fight against Ren is just as much as mine as it is yours," he said.

"Look, Finn—you've got spirit. You're a good guy. You squared off against a trained dark warrior. But it's the Jedi who have to fight this battle. Your place is with the Resistance," Galen said.

"I need to know what you're getting into!" Finn argued. "Why? What authority do you have? Why do you care? Is it because of her?" Galen challenged, pointing once again at Rey. Rey opened her mouth and made a sound of disgust, anger etched over her features. "I _will not_ have you speaking to my friend like this!" she growled.

"This is stupid. You're all acting like brats right now," Petro interjected, though he quickly shut his mouth after all three shot him looks that could kill. "This is highly unnecessary. Finn, I'm glad that you're concerned about your friends' well-being, but I'm afraid this meeting is exclusively for the Jedi and this young man with the vision," Leia said at last, hoping to break up the conflict. "I'm going to train Petro in the ways of the Force. He is as much a Padawan as Rey," Galen said stiffly.

"This is getting us nowhere!" Luke shouted. All fell silent, much like just a few moments before. He turned to Finn and gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Finn, but the general has ordered your leave. It would be treason to stay here much longer," he said. At first, the former stormtrooper looked as if he were going to start up again. However, Finn sighed and, with one last look back towards Rey, headed out of the war room. Luke and Leia shared a look with each other before turning back to the other three. "What did this man in your vision look like, Petro?" Luke asked.

"He was a little taller than you, but not quite as tall as me. He had brown hair. I couldn't see his eyes. He was too far away for me to get a good look at them. He was probably a couple years older than Galen….he wore robes like you."

"A Jedi of years gone past?" Galen inquired.

"I guess….I haven't really ever seen a Jedi other than you and Luke, and you don't even look like a Jedi besides your lightsaber."

Galen didn't have time to comment on this, for Leia asked him a question. "How soon should I schedule a conference with this Droog Kryze?"

"Don't. He believes himself to be the heir of the Death Watch—Kyr'tsad in Mando'a—and he's insane. He can commit any crime and get away with it, the people love him so much. He gets whatever he wants, and right now he wants control of Mandalore."

"How can you be so sure?" Leia asked, though she probably knew why. Galen sighed. "When I said that he believes himself to be ' _Te_ _Ad be Kyr'tsad_ ,'* I meant that he is _Alor'ad be Kyr'tsad_ —Captain of the Death Watch. He is insane. I saw him execute a member of Mandalore's parliament for calling Supreme Leader Snoke a "demagolka," which is very offensive to the Mandalorians. He's too unstable. The Death Watch considers him a god. I think you should just stay as far as you can from Droog Kryze."

The general nodded before turning to Luke. "You're going to leave, aren't you?" she asked. Immediately, both Rey and Galen flinched, shooting their master looks: Rey's was of betrayal, and Galen's of pure hatred. Luke nodded slowly. "No," Rey protested, "we can't leave. We've only just arrived."

"Rey's right," Galen seconded. "No more running. We need to stand and fight."

"Wait, you guys are leaving?" Petro asked, but no one paid him any attention. "I'm not going to leave Finn, Leia, and the Resistance to face threat alone. They need me," Rey said. Galen spoke next "Will you never be able to face him, Skywalker—you coward! You ran before, and you'll run again every time because you're afraid. _I_ was the one who had to stay behind and watch them as they fell. _I_ am the one who sees their faces every single day and night. _I_ am the one who fought him and saved her. _Where were you?_ Hiding, what you're best at!" His face was contorted with a violent rage; Petro backed several steps away from him.

"I'm not leaving to go hide, I'm leaving to go fight! The real battle isn't with the First Order and the Resistance, it's the light against the dark. It's Snoke who's pulling the strings behind everything. I'm going to find him," Luke said, his voice thick with annoyance. "You can't expect us to leave everyone here to die!" Rey protested, her face distorted with incredulity. "If what you say is true, than you know you will have to face _him_ soon, and you're too much of a coward to do that," Galen spat.

"Can someone who actually understands what in heaven's name is going enlighten me before I lose my mind?!" Petro hollered. Galen frowned as he turned his icy blue-green eyes onto the young man. "We're leaving," he answered, no emotion leaking out of his voice. Petro nodded. "When?"

"Now," Luke answered for his former apprentice. However, Rey shook her head. "I'm not going to abandon them again," she said firmly. Luke frowned. "Rey—"

"No, I'm not like you! I'm not going to leave my friends!" She stormed out of the war room, Luke weakly shouting after her.

* * *

Luke wanted to go after his daughter. Badly. It hurt him to watch her suffer like that. He looked back at Leia, who gave him a sympathetic look and a shake of the head. Galen, however, was having a fit. "You're going to leave her, too? Really? At least I wasn't your real child!" he snarled.

"She doesn't understand the enormity of it all—" Luke began, but Galen cut him off. "Of course she doesn't! She lived most of her life _on a desert planet by herself!_ How is she supposed to understand?" he demanded. Leia decided that she needed to intervene. She placed a hand on his arm. "Galen—"

He slammed her against one of the computers with that arm and grabbed her throat with his free hand. "Don't. Touch. Me," he hissed. The general clawed weakly at his hand, but he showed no sign of letting go. "Galen, release her," Luke ordered, reaching for his lightsaber. His grip slackened a little. " _Galen,_ let her go."

Leia slumped to the floor. Galen stared at his hand, his face unreadable. Then he looked down at the general. "I tried to tell myself that you couldn't have done anything, that the fault only lies with me and possibly Luke, but I was lying. I lied to you and Luke. It's more of your fault than anyone else's. Artie's right. I need to stop blaming myself," he said, but it seemed like he wasn't even talking to her or anyone else in the room, like he was trying to convince himself. Leia looked up at him with sorrowful eyes, her hand still rubbing her throat. Galen then turned to Luke. "I'm tired of you and your old Jedi ways. The Jedi were wrong. We should not try to repress our emotions—they're what makes us human. The Sith were right in that sense. At least they didn't contradict themselves at every turn," he said, speaking faster and with more feeling. Then he looked over at Petro. "You wanna stay with him and be a weak creature who can't feel anything, or will you come with me and try to find the happy medium between crazy cultists and sadistic killers?" he asked.

Petro seemed unsure as he stared at the ground with intensity. After shaking his head a few times and muttering, he looked straight into Galen's eyes with his own grey ones. "I'll go with you," he said. Galen nodded and looked from his old master to the man's sister, then back to Luke. "I can control it, you know," he whispered, "you don't have to worry about me."

Blue lightning flew from his fingertips into Luke's chest; he flew back and smashed through one of the lit-up screens. As he moaned in agony, he four words:

 _"That was for Rey!"_

* * *

"So are you going to leave?" Finn asked after Rey had told him Luke's plans. She shook her head. "I've been gone for quite a long enough time, I should think," she said.

What she didn't tell him was that she had lost most of her faith in her master. Over the past year, she had gotten to know him better than any person she could ever remember meeting—other than her mother, but she had forgotten much of her. She had been able to confide in him for nearly all that she did. She had told him her strangest dreams, her greatest hopes, and her deepest, darkest fears. And he had played the role of the father: always advising her, always encouraging and reprimanding her, showing her that he cared for her.

But that was before she learned that he was her true father, the father that had left her on Jakku with no intention of ever coming back. That was before she learned that she herself had been one of the few surviving students that he'd abandoned. That was before she learned that he given up on her and her mother—and his own adopted son—in favor of the life of a hermit. There was so much that she had learned from him and even more that she could learn….but she now feared that she would never allow herself to get that close to him again. They could no longer have the relationship that they used to. He left her. He lied to her. He betrayed her trust. What was worse was that he was now suggesting that they leave, lie to, and betray her friends. Well, she wouldn't allow that to happen.

"Last time I—I left you because I knew that I had to, but now….now I know that this is where I belong," she said awkwardly. His dark eyes widened with shock, and she was sure her own did as well. She had not meant to say that, but it was exactly what she'd needed to say. It spoke of all the seconds and minutes and hours and days and weeks and months of thinking about getting to see him again—and, by judging the look on his face, he had a similar story. He nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Rey, listen—I…I don't want to get in the way of your Jedi business…." he began, but a look after a look from Rey, his voice trailed off. "Finn, you're not in the way of anything. You're my friend. You think I care about some stupid plot Luke has more than us?" she asked.

Of course, Finn knew the answer to _that._ "But still, there are issues. Ren has already made it clear that he's not worried about losing a few of his Knights in order to find you, not to mention you already want revenge on him for Han's death," he continued. Rey stiffened at the latter statement. "What makes you think that?" she asked, almost accusingly. Either Finn didn't notice her tone of voice or disregarded it. "Because I feel the same way about it," he replied darkly.

Rey hadn't really thought about revenge lately. Sure, she'd dealt with anger and the lust for revenge even months after Han's death, but she'd been sure she was over it. Now, Finn's words had unearthed it once more. "Yes, I want to face him—I _have_ to face him. He killed Han and he nearly killed you. Killing Ren would…." _Well, what would it do? Make that scar on Finn's back disappear? Bring Han back to life? Keep me with my parents? Keep Galen from becoming the lunatic he is? Prevent the massacre at the temple? Make me a Jedi?_ She couldn't say any of those; she wasn't sure what it would do, exactly.

"Rey, if you want to leave then leave. Don't stay just because….because of me."

"Well, I'm not going to go either way."

"Fine."

"Fine then."

* * *

*The Son of the Death Watch

A/N: Well, it's obvious where the surname Kryze originates, though Droog is fully inspired by Anthony Burgess's _A Clockwork Orange_.


	15. Chapter Fourteen: The Departures

A/N: School sucks. It's time consuming and a bore. Why must I go through such trials?! Why?!

Ugh. Here's chapter fourteen.

* * *

Chapter Fourteen: The Departures

"Alor'ad Kryze."

A handsome young man with golden hair and deep green eyes turned to face his aran, his guard. "Meg, Abeck?" he asked. Abeck bowed his head and respect before continuing. "Leia Organa, te alor be te Akaanir, ru'tionir at urcir ti gar," he reported. Kryze snorted. "Ru'tionir at urcir ti gar? Besom!" he laughed humorlessly. He looked back at Abeck. "Tion'tuur?" he asked. "Shi jii," the aran answered.

Droog Kryze allowed a small, lazy smile to appear on his face. "An staabi. Ni liser urcir ibic….alor be aruetiise. Gotal'ur bic nakar'tuur," he ordered. Abeck nodded, bowed his head again, and hurried out of Kryze's quarters. Droog Kryze stretched in his chair and thought over what Abeck had reported to him. Meeting with the leader of the Resistance….it was a risk, no doubt. It could shake the relationship with the First Order that he'd worked so hard to make—could even obliterate it. It had been hard enough convincing the Kyr'tsad to go along with it; they had been perfectly satisfied with just Mandalore. Droog, however, saw the bigger picture: the entire galaxy, all inferior to the blood of Mandalore!

Of course, they couldn't reveal their true intentions yet. There were still some….radicals among the populace. This interview would just be to put away with the general's suspicions about any relation with the First Order. He started giggling hysterically. They would never see him coming.

* * *

"You _sure_ they won't come after us once they realize we took one of their ships?" Petro asked skeptically. Galen shrugged. "Probably. They'll take it as an act of treason. They consider us their allies, remember?" he answered.

"No," Petro replied honestly.

The older man shrugged again and continued messing with various parts of the ship that Petro had no idea what they were called or what they were for. "So….what about Shay and Jinn and Duke?" Petro asked after a few seconds of silence. Galen stopped cutting the wire he was working on and looked up at the teenager. "Who?"

"Fey and Linn and Duke—you know, the girl, the Jedi, and that other guy?"

"You mean Rey, Finn, and Luke? What about them?"

"Well….are they coming with us or not?"

"Were you _not just there_ an hour ago?! Did you _not_ pay attention at all?"

Petro frowned. "Well….you and the old dude got into an argument….no, I don't remember any of that at all," he admitted. Galen sighed and wiped his forehead with a dirty hand. "Kid….you know we can't stay here, right? These people—they're not like us. They can't do the same things we can. They don't understand. If we stay, all we'll do is their dirty work. You want to be used as a weapon?" he explained.

"Well….if it's either that or die—"

"But it's not. In this case, you actually have a choice: stay here and exist like you've always been doing, or come with me and actually have a life. I can teach you, they can't. I can show you how to control it, they don't understand. I'm like you, they're different."

The ex-bounty hunter started pacing the floor, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jacket. Sure, he hated this place: the rebels were too patriotic to be reasoned with, they already treated him like an outsider (they hadn't shown it in their actions, but he could see it in their eyes), they didn't trust him, some of them would gladly kill him do to his ties to the First Order (which he knew that one guy—was it Flynn or Vin?—used to be a stormtrooper, but he'd rescued the Resistance's best pilot _and_ helped deliver the missing piece of the map to that one Jedi dude _and_ discovered Rey _and_ helped destroy the Starkiller Base, whereas Petro hadn't done even remotely as helpful), and he just didn't like how these people operated. While he'd been employed by the First Order to track down Rey, he'd been able to get a little insight on how they ran things. Compared to the First Order, the Resistance consisted of a bunch of kids just learning how to put on their own shoes. It was a mess. Not that Petro was any better than them, but he just hated taking orders from people like him.

"What does it mean to be a Jedi?" he asked finally, standing still for once. Galen stopped working again and looked back up at him. "Pardon?"

"What does it mean to be a Jedi? You keep telling me that you're going to train me, but I don't know what it's supposed to mean. Do I have to act like a complete nerf herder like that old guy, or do act more like you? What kind of things am I supposed to do?"

Galen seemed to consider this for a second. "Well….there's a little more to it than learning how to make a glass of ale float in the air—but I guess you already know that. Well….druk, out of all the infinity of questions you could've asked, you chose that one! Well, being a Jedi is about trying to maintain balance in the Force. You know the Force is the reason why you can do the things you do. Well, there are two aspects of the Force: the light and the dark, the good and the bad, the order and the chaos. Most of the Jedi of the old days believed that balance meant keeping the dark at bay. They were wrong.

"Balance is not, I believe, the Jedi being very successful while the Sith (they're the ones who use the dark side, like Kylo Ren) nearly become no more than a story you tell a naughty child at night time. They thought that, nearly destroying the Sith, they were creating balance in the Force. They did not understand the true meaning of balance. Balance is not order nor chaos, but conflict.

"The only way for the Force to maintain balance is to have both aspects struggling for victory yet never achieving it. The Jedi of old believed that they had defeated the Sith and all but destroyed the dark side, but the Sith managed to survive, nursed their wounds, and came back more dangerous than ever.

"You know of the legend of Darth Vader, don't you?" Galen asked at last. Petro nodded; his mother had told several stories of the murderous man's acts of wickedness. "Well, long before Vader, there was a slave on Tatooine. His name was Anakin. He had no father; it was believed that the Force created him in the womb of a human woman. A Jedi discovered him, recognized his great potential in the Force, and took him back to Jedi Temple. The boy had to leave his mother behind.

"The Jedi died, however, but his apprentice took on the title of Jedi Knight and trained the boy in his late master's honor. This Jedi's name was Obi-wan Kenobi. He had great ability of his own, but it paled in comparison to that of Anakin's. The Jedi Council (yes, they were basically a group of old men and women who sat on chairs all day and discussed various issues, Petro—very funny), well, they believed that he was the Chosen One of prophecy, the one who would "destroy the Sith and create balance in the Force." They were blind. Since they did not understand the meaning of balance, they set this boy up to fail.

"The boy fell in love with a woman called Padmé. The Jedi were forbidden to love; they had to suppress all emotion in order to control themselves and not fall to the temptation of the dark side. Anakin, however, could not help himself, and when he learned that she loved him, too, their fates were forever changed. Another thing that altered him was the death of his mother. He learned of the bliss of using rage to strengthen his attacks, make them easier, quicker.

"He eventually lost all faith in the Jedi since they did not trust him. He was seduced by the Sith and killed most of the Jedi. He faced his former master Obi-wan in an epic fight, in which the latter emerged the victor while Anakin was left mutilated. His one love, the girl he married, died, and he shed the name of Anakin and was completely absorbed of his new identity as Darth Vader.

"Vader was eventually brought back to the light, and he killed the Sith who had seduced him and caused him to betray the Jedi. This brought a very temporary peace, for both sides were scrambling to pick up the pieces. But I think he failed to complete the prophecy, and that's why we have to fight the First Order today.

"The sad thing is, when I was a Padawan, I was taught the same thing about balance. Luke didn't learn from the mistakes of his forerunners. It's a shame, really. It's one of the flaws of beings in the universe.

"What it really means to be a Jedi is making sure the dark doesn't take over _and_ that you don't take over as well. The galaxy can only survive if both sides are constantly at war with each other. Peace—what the Jedi falsely refer to as balance—is, in this case, war. Chaos and order walk hand-in-hand with each other. It's our duty to keep it that way."

Petro seemed to consider all of what the man who was to be his master said. Then he shrugged. "Guess that kinda makes sense," he admitted. Galen flashed him a genuine grin before returning back to his work.

"Seriously, though, can the Force keep the rebels from killing us once they realize what we're up to?"

"Eh….maybe. I'd say there's about a 50/50 chance—but I don't like hearing the odds, you know what I mean?"

"Ya. One time, when I was walking down one of the corridors, there was this annoying protocol droid all upset about something….kept saying 'the odd are….' "

* * *

Supreme Leader Snoke was not pleased with the performance of his apprentice Kylo Ren.

The boy had so much potential, so much power….and yet he couldn't use an inch of it. Pathetic. Even his own Knights surpassed him in skill. Inexcusable, really. There was absolutely _no_ _reason at all whatsoever_ that this weakling was—

Snoke sighed and gripped the armrests of his throne tightly. It was often times like this when he wondered if he'd made the wrong decision in recruiting the Solo runt. There had been many hopefuls: Kento, Kylo's right-hand man; Guu'ru, the Seventh Sister's son; even that confounded son of Bridger would've been a better choice than this waste of talent.

 _But there are still other choices out there. Kylo Ren can still prove himself, though it's quite doubtful that he ever will. Bridger's boy may crack just yet. And there's always_ that girl.

Yes, that's what he called her: _that girl,_ or _the girl._ The one who has evaded his clutches for far too long. The first student of Skywalker's in over ten years. The one who helped destroy his Starkiller Base. The child he'd never allowed himself to truly believe existed.

But she did exist. At first, when Kylo Ren had spoken of her, he'd allowed himself to believe that it was just an ordinary scavenger, that there was no way she could be _the one_. But when his sorry excuse of an apprentice reported her abnormal connection to the Force….there could be no doubt. She was a Skywalker. She was a threat.

Skywalker. How he _hated_ that name!—almost as much as he hated the name Bridger. The thought of the family of great Jedi caused his old wounds to feel as though spread with acid; it was like falling into the fires all over again. And yet, at the same time, he wanted to meet her, to _sense_ her, to see if the rumors and stories and prophecies were really true. He would no longer allow himself to take shelter in doubt, nor would he drown in his hopes.

If this was _the one_ , he'd know. Then he could decide whether or not he wanted to keep her alive or not.

One of his servants, an exiled Knight, entered his throne room. After kneeling before him and stating Snoke's various titles, he stood and gave his report. "One of the First Order's drones has been destroyed. More have sent back images of an occupied Resistance base. Kylo Ren believes that this is the one the Jedi are hiding on. He has asked for permission to strike against them," the man rasped with difficulty. In anger, Kylo Ren had slashed the former Knight's throat with his lightsaber; luckily for the victim, it had been a shallow wound and the man had been able to survive, though he quickly asked leave of the warrior's service.

"Tell him that his main focus should be luring them out. If he keeps attacking, they'll only escape him again and again. He'll waste much resources on these silly mousetraps. Tell him to….be more creative in his endeavors. Tell him to….start send his Knights to slaughter any member of the Resistance found in any system. Publically. Tell him to start raiding planets that support the Resistance. Tell him to personally tear down the Jedi temple on Anch-To brick-by-brick, stone-by-stone. They'll feel the disturbance. They'll come out. We need them to come to _us_ —not the other way around. Only then can we finally wipe out the last traces of the Jedi Order."

The servant of darkness bowed and started out of the throne room. "Guu'ru," Snoke called out. The frightened former Knight turned, not knowing what to expect. "I hope you're still practicing those….methods I taught you?"

"Yes, Master," Guu'ru managed.

"Good. They may come in handy soon. I want them to come _here,_ in the heart of the darkness, and I'll need every able-bodied warrior to detain them."

Guu'ru bowed again and took leave, contemplating on what his master said.

* * *

As she watched Leia's personal X-Wing launch out of Yavin 4's atmosphere, she couldn't help but have a bad feeling about it.

Only half an hour before, Droog Kryze had scheduled a meeting for the next day. In order to arrive with plenty of time, the general would leave no later than midday. Many—no, _most_ had advised against this.

"Kryze's unpredictable. He'll probably just want to cut out your teeth and wear them around his neck," Galen, ever the optimist, had said.

"This doesn't seem right," Commander Zeff Mareck had commented.

"It's a trap!" Admiral Ackbar had protested. Despite all of these, General Organa would listen to none of it; she was determined to make sure that the First Order did not have an ally as big and influential as Mandalore.

"I don't like this," Finn muttered beside her. "I don't, either," Rey answered quietly back. "This is doomed for failure," her friend said for the fifth time. "Have faith in your general," the young woman responded, though she herself was filled with doubt. "I don't agree with Galen on some—well, most things," Finn admitted, "but I think he's right about this Mandalorian. Has the general learned nothing since the First Galactic Civil War?"

"I'm sure Organa knows what she's doing," Poe interjected on the other side of him. They stayed silent for a few seconds. "How's Gale doing?" Finn asked.

Poe shook his head. "It's pretty bad. He's nuts and bolts right now. The doctors say that they can't do anything for him. We're pretty sure he's out of commission for good," he said. "Still hasn't gotten over Torq?" guessed Finn.

"No, he's seemed be doing well grief-wise but….he's just—just insane. He rambles about nonsense all the time. He thinks he can see into the future and stuff. It scares the druk out of Bellona."

"Bellona's seen him?"

"Ya, every day."

"Well...she was quite close with Torq."

"They were a thing?"

"Not _that_ close…."

"Oh." They started walking around the hangar as the crowd started to disperse. Rey went off to go find Luke; she still had questions that had to be answered. Unfortunately for her, Luke vanished almost as quickly as Leia's ship, probably hoping to avoid any unwanted attention or pestering from the curious rebels. In her haste, she bumped shoulders with someone. "Sorry!" she exclaimed. The rebel mumbled something like "don't worry about it" or "don't have a fit" but Rey wasn't paying attention. Already her mind was drifting away to other places.

 _"Rey."_

She whipped around at the sound of her name, trying to find its emitter; she could see nothing.

 _"Mommy!"_ She recognized that voice: it was her own, from a time she had almost forgotten. She closed her eyes, and images flooded her mind: _a hug, cookies, talking to her brother, a new pair of shoes, her brother reading her a story, a huge temple, watching her mother leave, her brother smiling down at her, red flashing lights—_

"Rey? _Rey._ Rey! Yoohoo! Wakey wakey wakey!" Petro hollered, waving his hand in front of her face. The girl opened her eyes, partially annoyed, partially relieved. "What is it?" she asked, unable to prevent a hint of exasperation seeping into her voice. "Galen wants to talk to you," the teenager said. Rey frowned. "Why? Did he give a reason?"

"Well….err….yes and no. I can't really talk here. Too many ears. Too many eyes. Not enough space. Well, he did actually give a reason, but you'll probably just go without the reason anyway so let's just go ahead and leave because it's getting pretty kriffing awkward and I don't know what to say anymore and my voice is speeding up and the words are getting all mashed together and I'm scared of speaking to girls—all right! Let's just get out of here already!" Petro shouted the last part loudly enough to attract attention from pilots tending to their ships nearby. Rey tried (and failed) to keep from laughing; she hadn't even known Petro Varden that long, and yet she already enjoyed laughing at his expense. She followed him, weaving in between various types of combat ships, until they came before the _Millennium Falcon_. Rey felt her heart sink to her feet, then felt pure rage flooding her emotions. "You were going to hotwire the _Falcon_!" she spat accusingly.

Petro looked down at his feet. "Uh….I've never heard that term before, but if it means what I think it means, then sure, we were going to," he mumbled. He shrank back from Rey's glare-of-death as she marched up the ramp and into the shuttle.

"GALEN BRIDGER! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"she shouted as she entered the cockpit. When she saw him stand to his feet, she sped over there and slapped him right across the face. " _No one_ steals the _Falcon_ from me!" she growled, pointing a finger in his face.

To her great horror and disgust, Galen burst out laughing. "Stop! Stop!" he guffawed. "It's too much!"

This only made her more wroth. She grabbed the front of his jacket, curled her other hand into a ball, and punched him on the left side of his jaw. It was hard enough for him to sway a little, but Galen was big enough where it would take something a lot stronger than a girl's fist to bring him down; however, it did cause him to stop laughing. He rubbed the left side of his face.

"I can't believe you! You _knew_ Han! You knew how much the _Falcon_ meant to him! You _should_ know how much she means to me! You're so pig-headed and—"

"Selfish," Galen injected.

"—and foolish and—"

"Heartless."

"—and immature and—"

"Just a terrible person all-around—I know. Now will you stop for a second and just listen to me?"

Rey glared daggers at him. Galen couldn't help but cover his mouth to keep from laughing.

 _Smack!_

This time, Rey got him right in the nose. It was enough to make him step back, covering his nose with both hands. Rey suddenly wished that it was bleeding. "You're _such_ a blasterbrain!" she snarled. Galen uncovered his nose (it was bleeding a little, but she could tell that she hadn't broken it—much to her displeasure) and spat a wad of spit and blood on the floor. "I wasn't going to steal the _Falcon_ ," he said.

"Liar! Petro said you were going to steal it! _And_ I could see it in his eyes—"

"OK, first of all," Galen interrupted, "you're a very bad judge of character. Second, I lied to Petro because I knew that he wouldn't agree with what I was going to do. Third, quit calling me names. It's quite rude." Rey stared at him, unable to find her tongue for the first time. "How _dare_ you speak to me like this, like I'm some kind of child!" she growled.

Galen cocked one of his eyebrows. "Let's not forget that you _were_ a child last time I saw you," he said flatly, then he turned and looked at the controls. He didn't speak for maybe two or more minutes; Rey used this time to calm down, to control her emotions. _He's not going to take her. He's not going to take her. He just wants to talk. That's all he's ever done is talk,_ Rey told herself.

"I think I can say that neither of us agreed with Luke for leaving. He tried to make it seem like it was for the greater good if we left the Resistance when both of us believe the opposite. He said that he wanted to leave to fight. I think he wanted to leave to 'prepare' us for fighting, also called 'hiding away on some obscure planet for ten more years.' Actually fighting is hunting down Ren's Knights one by one, until we meet Ren himself. That's my plan. Of course, three is better than two, and I don't really want to steal a ship and lose potential allies," he added, turning around as he did. Rey frowned. "You're asking me to abandon my friends—just like Luke did?" she asked skeptically.

Galen started chewing the inside of his cheek. "Yes, so that we can protect them. I have comrades here, too, you know. I know how it is to leave your friends behind," he said gravely. Rey felt very small all the sudden. "What do you mean?" she could not help but ask. He chuckled and averted his eyes. "I had to be on my own after the students were killed. I had to hide. I couldn't stay at one place for a long time. I had to keep moving. That's the only reason why I'm still alive," he muttered. Rey's hard expression softened. She walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He seemed to flinch at her touch, but he said nothing.

"You were there at the Temple. You saved me." It wasn't a question. Galen nodded slowly, still refusing to meet her gaze. "Yes," he said, his voice cracking. He took a deep breath and finally gained enough courage to look at her; his blue-green eyes were bloodshot, like he'd stayed up too many nights thinking about what he was going to say.

"Rey—you were….you were my sister," he finally managed. "You were Luke's daughter, and I only ever thought of you as my sister. You weren't _his daughter_ , you were _my sister_. I thought—I sincerely believed that we were family in all but blood. But…." He looked away. He took another breath. "Ben—I thought him as my brother, too. He was Luke's nephew, but Luke never treated him any different than the other students—not that that was wrong, you know, it's bad to show favoritism—but me and Ben became close. And when he….when he turned, and when he was about to….about to…."

Rey saw that he was shaking violently.

"So many of my friends died that day, Rey! You weren't there that long….but _he_ knew! _He_ knew all about it! But—but I never told him that you were Luke's daughter. If I'd told him that, I wouldn't've had time to save you. You'd be some kind of…. _thing like him_. But he knew that I loved you like a sister. He didn't know that you _were_ my sister, just that…." He smashed his fist on the chair in front of him. "It's….complicated," he finished.

"He was going to kill me because I was someone you loved," Rey said. He nodded feverishly. "Before he turned….I wanted to be a Master. I studied harder and practiced longer than anyone else. I was blind to everything else. My ambition was the only thing that mattered in my life. I think that's around the time that Ben started being tempted by Snoke," he spat the name, "but when he wanted to seek help and comfort, I was too busy to listen. That's why it's my fault, for being blind to my brother. That's why he wanted to hurt you. _He_ felt hurt. He wanted me to feel hurt, too. He wanted to hurt me. He wanted revenge." Rey nodded understandingly.

Galen took several more deep breaths before straightening his back and looking back at her. "I want every Knight dead. They killed my friends. They tried to kill you several times. They wanted me dead because Ren wanted me dead. They all but destroyed everything Luke had been working on for over two decades. They've slaughtered so many innocent people and spread the dark even unto the far reaches of the galaxy. They're a menace. They must be stopped," he said assuredly, looking at her straight in the eye. That bit of weakness she had seen in him was completely gone; instead of remorse, she saw only naked rage.

"That's why I need you, Rey. I need your help in killing them. I could help t— _coach_ you. You could train along with Petro. You could help me teach him. Don't you see, Rey? The future of the Jedi Order resides with _us_ now, not Luke. Luke had his chance. He left us," he said.

Rey knew that she was agreeing with every word that he said. She wondered whether or not he meant to convince or not. "So threaten to steal my ship in order to convince me to fly you out of here?" she asked.

Galen started laughing again. "Yes. It worked, didn't it?" he chuckled. She gave a small smile and looked back near the end of the cockpit. Petro was frowning back at her. A little disturbed, she looked back at Galen. He stared at her lightsaber. "Anakin's blade, eh? Luke told me about it. He lost his hand and that blade in his first battle with Darth Vader," he commented. Instinctively, Rey placed a hand on the hilt. Unbidden, the images of her first Force vision came back: _walking down the corridors, an unearthly scream of agony, Kylo Ren and his Knights, the voice telling her "These are the first steps."_

"Rey? You okay?"

She opened her eyes. "Yes, I'm quite fine," she lied. She wasn't fine. These visions were getting worse, and she didn't know how to control them. _I need to ask Luke—_ no, she didn't need to ask Luke. Luke would just tell her that they needed to go off to some obscure planet and train until the news came that Finn and Poe and everybody else was dead. She needed someone….someone….what did she need?

"Uh, Galen….we have a bit of a situation here," Petro spoke up at last. The former Jedi leaner looked past Rey at his….apprentice? Rey wasn't really sure how to classify Petro at this point. "What is it?" he asked.

"Well….uh….Luke says that he knows exactly what we're planning and he said to tell Rey not to listen to a word of what you said."

"Huh?" interjected Rey.

"How?!" demanded Galen.

"I _knew_ that everyone was going to yell at me! I _knew_ it!" shouted Petro.

"Shut up and start talking," Galen said—and then he realized how stupid that sounded. "Stop talking nonsense and tell me how he knows the plan," he rephrased.

"He said that your thoughts were basically screaming at him. That's pretty much his exact words," Petro said. Galen cursed loudly and looked back at Rey. "I know that patience is a virtue and some druk, but I need you to decide. Quick," he said.

 _Are you really going to abandon your friends?_ a part of her asked.

 _I'm not abandoning them. This is no more abandoning them than when I left to find Luke._

 _That's what Luke wanted, for the next Jedi to find him._

 _I'm not abandoning the Resistance. I'm leaving to help them._

 _That's what Luke would say._

 _Maybe we're not so different. Maybe Galen isn't so different from him. All I know is that Luke wants us to go off and train and Galen wants us to go off and fight._

 _But what do you want?_ No part of Rey's being could answer that question. She thought of Finn, and what expression he would have on his face when he learned that she had left him again. She could imagine Poe trying to comfort him. He needed her. But Galen and Petro also needed her. Luke needed her. Rey placed both hands on either temple. Why did everything have to be so difficult?

"Rey...!" Petro hollered as he ran back inside (for he had gone out to see if anyone had caught on yet). "We have to go! Now! Hurry up! He's coming!"

"All right. I'm coming," she stated firmly, looking straight into Galen's blue-green eyes. He nodded and took the co-pilot seat. Rey smiled as she strapped in the pilot's seat. "I _really_ hope the compressor's not going to give out on us!" she shouted as she started up the _Falcon_.

Galen's brow furrowed with worry. "The compressor's bad?"

"What's a compressor?!" yelled Petro as he grabbed onto the chess board for support. This made Galen look even more worried.

They took off the ground….only to meet some resistance. _Resistance_ , Rey thought, _hilarious._ "What's going on?" she asked Galen as she frantically pushed numerous buttons. He frowned. "I don't know—wait!" He closed his eyes for a few seconds. "Luke's got a hold on us. We need to activate the hyperdrive," he said after opening them.

"Activate the hyperdrive….in orbit?" Petro asked, flabbergasted. "You can go into lightspeed pretty much anywhere!" Galen yelled back at him as Rey flipped on the hyperdrive. They heard it start up, only to for it to fail only moments later. _I should've left it alone after bypassing it instead of replacing it. This ship turns everything into a piece of junk_ , Rey thought. "Damn it!" Galen shouted as he stood from his seat.

"It's all right! All you have to do is—"

"—bypass the compressor, I know. I need you to resist Luke and buy me some time," Galen interrupted. "Resist _Luke_ , the last of the Jedi?!" Rey asked, dumbfounded. Galen opened up one of the coverings on the walls and started pulling at the wires. "You're a Jedi, too, y'know," he said encouragingly.

"But he's—"

"Will you just shut up and reach into the Force and _push_ for God's sake?!"

Rey did as he bid and closed her eyes. She remembered Luke's training; she felt his presence around her and…. _there._ She felt him. She fought back. Neither Petro nor even Galen could see the internal conflict that was happening around them; Galen trusted her abilities and was concentrating fully on the task at hand, while Petro was just trying not to barf. Never before had Rey pushed her abilities to this point; she didn't even know that she could resist _anyone_ other than Ren, let alone _Luke Skywalker._

 _Rey._

Perspiration dribbled down her right temple.

 _Rey, you need to stop this. You're making a huge mistake,_ her master's voice rang in her head. She bit her lower lip, pushing even harder.

 _Rey, this isn't you. This is Galen. He's the one who convinced you to do this. You're not like him. If he wants to go and get himself killed or worse, let him. If the boy wants to follow him to a similar fate, let him. But don't join them out of pressure. What happened to you not wanting to leave your friends? When I ask you to leave, it's an immediate betrayal—but when Galen asks you to leave, it's for the greater good?_ Rey gave a grunt of frustration. _Rey, stop this, before it's too late—_

 _SHUT UP!_

She felt his grip around them weaken.

 _Rey, don't fight me. I'm not the enemy._

 _SHUT UP AND GET OUT OF MY HEAD!_

 _Rey—_

 _ **YOU LEFT MY MOTHER TO DIE! GET OUT!**_ With some satisfaction, she felt his grip fall away completely. Beside her, Rey heard Galen give out a sigh of relief as he sat back down next to her. "Activate the hyperdrive," she ordered, feeling confident. Galen flipped the switch, and the _Millennium Falcon_ entered lightspeed.

* * *

Luke collapsed to his knees as he watched the ship leave his vision. _Rey! Rey!_ he called out to her, but he felt nothing. He sighed. She had resisted him. She lost her trust in him.

He blamed Galen.

He had loved his former apprentice more than his own self. He had taught him everything he knew and hoped that the boy would complete his training and become the first student to receive Knighthood. But everything had shattered when Ben fell.

 _"I want to know why you didn't try to find me."_

 _Because I didn't want you to see me weak like that. I couldn't be weak in front of you….not after my failure._

 _"You were never there in the first place, so how can it be your fault?"_

 _You learned everything you knew from me, Galen. Any fault that you believe is yours resulted from my incompetence as a teacher._

 _"Ben is dead. Kylo Ren betrayed and murdered him. Ren then attempted to kill me, as well, but I defeated him. I should've killed him, but_ _I was weak then. I'm not weak anymore."_

 _If only you knew, Galen._

He sensed a worried presence behind him. "Rey's gone with them, if that's what you're asking," he said to Finn. The young man was clearly troubled. "Did Galen force her to go?" he demanded. Luke shook his head. "She wanted to go," he answered.

This confused Finn. _Why would she leave? I thought she said that she wasn't going to leave us….to leave me!_ he thought. He'd known that Galen Bridger was trouble, but he hadn't even dreamed that Rey would follow him. Was it because Galen was a Jedi and Finn was not? "Will she be all right?" he asked the Jedi Master.

"I can't promise you that, Finn," Luke responded gravely.

* * *

 _These doctors are good,_ Gale thought. _They've almost convinced_ me _that I'm crazy!_

Of course, he knew he wasn't really crazy: everything that he'd seen so far was coming true. Well, except that one instance with Bellona Nightstar, but he could set her on the correct path. After all, it was written in the cosmos, was it not?

"Gale, you need to take your medicine," one of the nice female doctors told him sweetly, pushing a cup of orange liquid at his face. He made a look of disgust and slapped it out of her hand. "Medicinal orange juice? Are you trying to poison me?! It's probably pasteurized, and it doesn't even have pulp in it!" he snarled. The doctor ran out of the room like a stormtrooper who had just walked into the middle of a rebel ambush.

"That's right! You don't pasteurize and de-pulpify a guy's orange juice! That's a crime worthy of death!" Gale hollered after her. He started laughing hysterically and knocked on the hospital bed beside him. "Y'hear that, Torq? You hear that? She don't care how I like my orange juice!" he chortled. "I'm _not_ Torq! My name is Rahm!" the young man protested. "Whatever you say, Torq," Gale replied, smacking the man's bandaged arm.

"They….need….to….move….you….to….the….psych….ward," Rahm managed through grunts of pain. "Hahaha _haaaaa…._ oh Torky oh Torky you crack me up, oh Corky oh Corky, oh Porky oh Porky. Hehehe _he._ Oh hohoho _ho_. Oh….oh you're funny. Haha. Ha. Ha. Hahahaha," uttered Gale. "Will anyone trade roommates with me?" begged poor Rahm.

Gale didn't mind that this new Torq didn't want to be Torq. That was fine. He had more important things to worry about than a new brother. For instance: he was quite certain that a Skywalker was going to die very soon. It was written in the cosmos, after all.

* * *

A/N: All righty, there's the chapter that was both surprisingly easy and awkward to write. One thing I want to make clear: I am _not_ making the Mandalorians major antagonists in this story. It just seemed weird not to include them, with their whole history of violence and the Darksaber and everything. That and it's easy to find legitimate Mando'a on the Internet, which is awesome to write in.


End file.
